“Three types of blindness” regarding the family denounces Cardinal Rivera

Mexico City, Mexico, Mar 7, 2005 / 22:00 pm

During his Sunday homily at the archdiocesan cathedral, the Archbishop of Mexico City, Cardinal Norberto Rivera, referred to the Week of the Family—which will be celebrated in Mexico on March 19-25—noting that, “The family needs to be celebrated and promoted, as we find ourselves in a world that leaves new generations blind and does not let them see the marvel of God’s plan.”

The cardinal explained that “the new generations do not have clear understanding of the family, they have begun to give way to individualism and they are blind when it comes to forming their own family.”

Referring to this past Sunday’s gospel, the cardinal noted that, “We can say there are three types of blindness regarding the family: those who cannot see, those who are afraid to see, and those who do not want to see.”

“St. John speaks to us of a man born blind and he could be the archetype of those men and women who live their lives without a clear understanding of the family.  They do not have much blame; sadly they have grown up in broken homes that do nothing to help understand the truth about the family,” Cardinal Rivera stated, adding that “those who live like this are men and women in need of a Redemptor who can reach their hearts and touch the eyes of the soul to make them discover true love.”
 
Likewise, “There are other blind people, represented by the parents of the man born blind, those who are afraid to commit to a family that walks in the truth.  They are afraid because it would mean going against the trends of the world.  They are afraid because it would mean sacrifice, self-denial and forgiveness, because it would mean leaving aside the ideas that have made us comfortable up to now.”
 
”Out of a false love of peace, these blind people allow there to be more and more laws that are destructive to the family,” he added.

Last, he concluded, “is the third type of blindness.  These are people who do not want to see, who think they are enlightened by the false light of apparent progress, those who push and push for society to do away with its values so that the family will be increasingly weaker and unstructured.”

”They are the ones who deny the value of the nuclear family in society, who preach against discrimination, and yet they are the first to discriminate against those who do not agree with them.  They are the ones who, under the banner of tolerance, make themselves dictators of everyone else and impose their own ways of behaving on others; they are the ones history proves are destroyers and manipulators of the human person and the family,” the cardinal said.

To the question, “Who can deliver us from blindness?” the cardinal responded, “Only Christ.  He is the light of the world, the light that illuminates all men and women.  He is the light of families.  He can deliver the family from the darkness that grips it and fill each family with the fruits of the light.  Christ can deliver us from blindness, and for that we must draw close to Him.  We can do that through the Eucharist.  The Eucharist is the place where the Lord encounters our families, consoles them, nourishes them and supports them,” he stated.