I am blessed to have grown up in a time where families did family things together especially on Sunday. Southern culture with its blue laws helped in this as stores were closed and Sunday was truly a day of rest by civil law.
My family went to Mass together in our Sunday best after having all taken a bath on Saturday night. When we got home from Mass, it was a time to prepare for our formal midday Pranzo or dinner with a properly set table and extra special main course.
Later in the day we did family things like going to the movies or taking a ride out into the country or some other kind of recreation like fishing, swimming or going to the lake (Clark Hill).
Pope Francis and I were on the same page for the Solemnity of the Holy Family:
This is what I wrote in my bulletin letter for The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph:
What makes a family strong? When Jesus Christ is at the center it, as He was in His own Holy Family. That's true of our families but also of every Catholic parish.
Strong families pray together at home and make their parish life and Mass attendance foundation because that makes Jesus foundational to the family. The family that prays together stays together.
Eating together at the family table for at least breakfast and supper is critical to making families strong. And ALL and I mean ALL, electronic devises should be off and banned from the table!!!! I mean it!
Finally keeping holy the Lord's Day each and every Sunday by going to Mass and refraining from servile work and shopping, will go a long way in strengthening families. Sunday should be a family day of worship, rest and relaxation. And Sunday's dinner should be extra special with a nicely, properly set table!
"I ask myself if you, in your family, know how to communicate or are you like those kids at meal tables where everyone is chatting on their mobile phone ... where there is silence like at a Mass but they don't communicate," the Pope said.
"Fathers, parents, children, grandparents, brothers and sisters, this is a task to undertake today, on the day of the Holy Family," he added.
This is not the first time the Pope - who boasts more than 18 million Twitter followers - has chided his followers for spending too much time glued to their devices, especially during Mass.
"At a certain point the priest leading the ceremony says 'lift up our hearts'. He doesn't say 'lift up our mobile phones to take photographs' - it's a very ugly thing," he said in 2017.
"It's so sad when I'm celebrating mass here or inside the basilica and I see lots of phones held up - not just by the faithful, but also by priests and bishops! Please!"
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