October 4 will open the much-awaited Synod on the family, following the extraordinary, preparatory one held last year. Also this time, the Pope wanted to prepare for the Synod with a prayer vigil “to pray that the Holy Spirit will enlighten the Synod Fathers in their challenging task.” So on the evening of 3 October everyone was there: married couples, children, engaged couples, grandfathers, mothers, aunts, cousins, religious, single people……. will come to gather around Pope Francis. Many of them will come from faraway places, but will all be protagonists precisely because from the start, each felt involved in the reflections prepared by the two synodal sessions. It had never occurred, in fact, that upon proclaiming a Synod, the pope would want a double, popular consultation almost as if to say that the walls of the synod assembly hall had to be widened to be able to listen to those who live family lives or those who even anonymously, make sure that the family avails of all the support rightly due to it, inasmuch as it is the legacy of creation. Each of the participants was holding a burning torch: many small fires that together will brighten the horizons of all the families, and of those which follow every day with renewed vigor, the trail of their original design, as of those immersed in darkness and no longer believe in love. Many torches will signify that the ‘till death do us part’ in Christ is possible, and that the grace of the sacrament of marriage heals every incapacity to love and gives spouses a splendid treasure: the presence of Jesus in their homes. The prayer vigil was also animated by songs – offered by various bands among which those of the Focolare – along with testimonies of families which are a different type of prayer, but likewise important and sacred. All these also highlight the beauty of the family, which often arises from a tiresome daily routine, imbued with gratuity, tenderness, and forgiveness which alone can give true joy. Testimonials to the sharing of life paths make all see that the family represents a gift to the world and a precious way of announcing the Gospel. “May the Synod acknowledge, esteem, and proclaim all that is beautiful, good and holy about that experience,” the Holy  Father prayed. “May it embrace situations of vulnerability and hardship: war, illness, grief, wounded relationships and brokenness, which create distress, resentment and separation.” The Pope continued, “Let us pray for a Synod which, more than speaking about the family, can learn from the family, readily acknowledging its dignity, its strength and its value, despite all its problems and difficulties.” He also expressed the desire that what is offered is “a Church which is a mother, ever capable of giving and nourishing life, accompanying it with devotion, tenderness, and moral strength. For unless we can unite compassion with justice, we will end up being needlessly severe and deeply unjust.” Maria Voce, who touched on the stories of those families who have decided to walk with the Resurrected Christ in their midst, affirmed that also they, like the disciples of Emmaus, “felt their hearts burn with the typical joy that the presence of Christ gives, experiencing the gifts of unity with God and among themselves, light, courage, missionary drive and furthermore”, the Focolare Presidente stated, “Jesus himself, will speak to the hearts of those they meet, and revive hope in them.” “The Pope,” continued Maria Voce, “spurs on the families to take the initiative in bringing this gift to the community. We want to accept this challenge, too, and do so in cooperation with our parishes and all the other movements and associations, especially in hosting the refugees who knock on the doors of our hearts. The Christian families have been entrusted with the task of human coexistence healed by mercy. They can show humanity the tenderness and force of God’s love and in this way, the Pope said, every day write a page of sacred history, not the one written only in books, but that which will remain forever in the heart of the Father.”