In his Letter to Families, St. John Paul II writes, “The family is a community of persons and the smallest social unit. As such it is an institution fundamental to the life of every society. The family is based on the common life of blood-related people, most often parents and children and other members, because where there is love, there is also a place for grandparents.”

In the family a new life is born, in the family a human personality is built. Much depends on a healthy and harmonious family. Man is brought up for the family and in the family, he is formed. Without the family, normal human growth is unthinkable. The family is the place where God and man meet.

Family is like a sanctuary; it preserves the presence of God in the world. Family is the place where God and man meet. Family is the Church in a small way, a domestic Church. No man exists without family, man does not exist alone. We all get our bodies and personalities in the family, from our father and mother. Here we received our first and last names. No one creates himself, gives himself a name and a surname; no one assigns himself abilities and weaknesses. There are no people outside the family.

Also in the latest message, as in many others, Our Lady speaks to us about the family and calls the family to prayer. Let us recall some of her messages:

“I request the families of the parish to pray the family rosary” (September 27, 1984). “Let prayer take the first place in your families” (November 1, 1984). “I thank all who have urged prayer in their families” (March 28, 1985).

“I beseech you to start changing your life in the family. Let the family be a harmonious flower that I wish to give to Jesus. Dear children, let every family be active in prayer for I wish that the fruits in the family be seen one day” (May 1, 1986).

“I desire you to awaken love in your families so that where there is unrest and hatred, love will reign and when there is love in your hearts then there is also prayer“ (April 25, 1993).

“Let prayer be life for you. A family cannot say that it is in peace if it does not pray” (August 25, 1995).

“Dear children! The fruit of peace is love and the fruit of love is forgiveness. I am with you and I invite all of you, little children, that before all else forgive in the family and then you will be able to forgive others“ (January 25, 1996).

Why does Our Lady emphasize to put prayer first in the family? I believe it is because if prayer is not in the first place, then nothing else is in its place either. When the communication, the sense of belonging among the members, disappears from the family, then the family does not have the strength to decide to pray together. If there is no prayer, then the family exposes itself to all kinds of hostile forces that want to break it up and destroy it.

The family cannot get to know itself or truly live without the dimension of faith and prayer. The survival of humanity depends on the survival of the family.

Prayer together in the family strengthens the unity, helps to overcome all the difficulties and crosses that afflict the family.

Father Patrick Payton, an Irish priest, said the well-known sayings, “A family that prays together stays together” and “A world at prayer is a world at peace”.

Peace is born in the human heart through prayer, in which God comes to us. Our Lady warns us that peace is threatened, first in the human heart, in the family, and then in the world.

St. Mother Teresa said, “What can you do for peace in the world? Go home and love your family”. If we provide for peace in our families, we have done much and the most for peace in the world.

Let us pray: Our Lady, Queen of Peace, you come to us from the glory of the Heavenly Father and you see better than we do all the dangers to which we are exposed, families and the world. Thank you for not getting weary of inviting us to prayer and conversion of heart. Thank you, Mother, for all the hearts that have taken your words seriously and have listened to your call to prayer. Grant us the grace of perseverance on the way of prayer and conversion so that we may experience the fruits of the peace that God promises and gives us. United with you in prayer, Our Lady, we hand over to you all nations and all places where there is hatred, killing and death. May the power of prayer that rises to Heaven from our hearts that are united with your Immaculate Heart bring forth the fruit of peace, love, and stop the hatred and wars in families and in the world. Amen.