In the year 2012 the diocese of Milan will see agreed to host the VII World Meeting of Families (IMF). It is an event of great importance from many points of view. In Milan between May 30^th  and June 3rd 2012, families from all over the world will flow,  many will certainly come from Europe, but many others will also come from the extra-ocean continents. It will be a great opportunity for meeting, reflection and celebration, as already was in previous editions. In fact, the IMF, which every three years, was promoted for the first time in 1994 by Pope John Paul II in Rome and then gathered the families of the world in 1997 in Rio de Janeiro, in 2000 also in Rome, in 2003 in Manila, in 2006 in Valencia and in 2009 in Mexico City. This time the diocese of Milan, the most populous in the world, is chosen by Pope Benedict XVI, in his letter to the  Archbishop on August 23th, 2010, writes: "At the end of the VI World Meeting of Families, held in Mexico City in January 2009, I announced that the next meeting of Catholic families around the world with the Successor of Peter was to take place in Milan in 2012 on the theme: "The family: the work and the feast". "

Gift and responsibility for the local church

Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, in welcoming this news with joy,  spoke of the gift and responsibility, and stated that the church of Milan feels the grace of Pope’s and families’ presence, saying his happiness for the collaboration initiated with the Pontifical Council for the Family. This is an event where the diocese of Milan is personally involved, but not only so. The neighboring dioceses are coordinating to provide participants with specific moments, lived in most quickly accessible chief-places from Milan. So the afternoon session of May 31th will be held in Brescia, Bergamo, Como, Varese, Pavia, Bosisio Parini. In those locations it will address specific issues related to the particularities of these territories. In recent months we have entered into the heart of the preparatory phase and beyond the effort of finding adequate space for the celebration of the event, you take the census of the availability to the families’ welcome, according to the formula: "Parishes that welcome families, families receiving families": In fact, online registrations are available from September 1th (cf. http://www.family2012.com/document.php?id=18188). Almost parish reception, we think too to the Religious communities which often have large spaces for easy destination to temporary welcome . Even the movements of family spirituality, often spread internationally, may be by invitation and hospitality for foreign families. The organizational company engages greatly and will be managed by Fondazione Milano Famiglie (Milan Family Foundation 2012.

A not obvious theme

Cardinal Tettamanzi, in presenting the IMF at the general meeting of the CEI, on November 2010, emphasized the originality of the theme, which differs from those previously selected  inviting believers families to reflect on issues that directly invest their social and civic dimension. "It is an issue - we might say – ‘secular’, which leaves the perimeter of a consideration only within the Church and religious family. The close connection between work and feast, correlating two qualifying times the whole family life, shows the family as the core wellspring: it is the basis of primordial ties of society; it is the place where - in the living experience of spouses, parents , sons, brothers and sisters - we build tomorrow relationships; is the main subject that every nation is called to safeguard and promote."

It is therefore an invitation to think about the rhythms of social life from the family, that is, by the person who generates citizen and therefore the associated life, but it also offers - and this awareness is much less present in our culture - like the most valuable asset that a well-ordered society can not protect. How well you understand, the themes of the feast and the work, if read starting from the needs and rules of operation of the family, buy a big load of provocation and  proposals to policy, in Italy so little attentive to family demands. If the rates of required work are very high end to be exhausting and family and all her ties will suffer, the more so if the job fails: discouragement and anxiety of not being able to raise their children generate difficult and sometimes unmanageable dynamic.

On the other hand, these issues challenge each family of believers, they represent a real opportunity to focus on the fundamental dimensions of life that affect both of our families live, such as work and rest, that we Christians often take for granted, risking of losing the richness of their religious and human value. Families can read the title of the IMF as a reminder of the wisdom in managing their own rhythm and priorities assigned by their career choices. In fact it happens often that the work, when there is either too dry up and absorb the energies and thoughts so as not to leave even more for our loved ones, and when there is obviously powerful triggers concerns that invade and sadden our relationships.

Working with style

The work is certainly an important dimension in which you play the perception we have of ourselves, of our identity: it can confirm, grow, build on, but also demeaning or becoming an occasion of false alibis and destructive illusions. We therefore believe that it is entirely appropriate invitation to reflect on the work: to do it with taste and passion, if at this moment we do not enough; to limit it and embank wherever we are inadvertently taking up too much and to move away us from our family; to donate, if we can, to those who have none, or at least to us with their solidarity and creative in expressing our support.

With the work, the family opened it to the social dimension, and can enrich society by offering his style, his way of life relationships, his testimony. There are ways and ways of working: from Christians who make the best of themselves in their work and, in the right size, care efficiency and  relations so as to keep a human face to the workplace; or to be predators of creation, that all oriented to their welfare until they lose the beauty of meeting and sharing.
 
Restoring energy to the feast

The way of understanding and living the feast deserves some thought. Often Christians are likely risking to give for granted to lose and confuse it, submerging it in the myriad chores of daily life, referring to Sunday some shopping, cleaning, and anything else our homes need. Yet the feast is made to rejoice in our relations, to devote himself - and not only in the family - the dearest ties, which may be a little mistreated by work’s rhythms. The feast is the time to find time for free, by realizing that you have a thousand reasons to praise and thank the Lord: in Mass attendance, in family prayer, visiting family and friends, in the animation and attendance of oratory or of social and community life. The feast is precious, full of life, must not be wasted on the surface and just reasons, good energy should be  always reserved to the feast. The feast takes energy, and if we come to Sunday exhausted, we spent the holidays time to recuperate, then re-enter in the work, opening up a vicious cycle that will inevitably lead making work the center of life. Instead, it is important to be prudent to avoid all this, because ultimately we all know the beauty of the feast:  when we dedicate energy we go out invigorated, refreshed in mind, heart and spirit, safer of life and happier to be alive. The feast becomes a opening moment of the family beyond itself, reaching out to praise and thank the Lord, to the meeting of others in the community, of others with whom to rejoice and thank, and the others to sustain and console. The same words of the Pope, in his letter of convocation of the Seventh IMF, recall the centrality of the link between feast and work, drawing a fruitful working track: "We need to promote a reflection and a commitment aimed at reconciling the demands and time of work with those of family and to recover the true meaning of the feast, especially on Sundays, Easter week, God and man’s day, the day of the family, of community and solidarity" and again: "The next World Meeting of Families is a special opportunity to rethink the work and rest from the perspective of an united and open to life family, well integrated into society and the Church, attentive to the quality of relationships as well as the economy of the same household."

The path of "approach to  Milan"

With these ideas we have tried to hint at the richness of the themes of the next IMF. To this complexity, the event will be celebrated at a profit only if properly trained, otherwise it runs the risk of moving as fast as a meteorite that illuminates the sky for a while leaving unchanged the night. The Pope himself has called for a path of "approach to Milan", a desire that has been collected from many dioceses, who will devote the next pastoral year in its preparation. To this end, the main instrument is the fast and full text of the catechism, bearing the same title of the meeting: La famiglia: il lavoro e la festa (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2011). Ten catechesis were in fact prepared on the issues in question, it is nimble meditation on the word of God, accompanied by texts of the magisterial service, prayers and questions for the recovery and personal meditation, couples and groups. The text of the catechesis is freely downloadable at the following address: http://www.family2012.com/it/catechesi.php

From Milan  then came an invitation to follow the preparation of the meeting and to enjoy all the instruments (traditional and multimedia) that will be made available, to deepen and decrease in daily life so important issues to the lives of families. Beyond the beauty of the day of the meeting, which is important to participate, it will be a unique opportunity for the diocese, to take a step towards greater Christian, but also civil and human,  consciousness of  order, necessary to the rhythms of family life and social.