<DIV id=RTEContent>What the Pope Is Praying for<BR><BR>Benedict XVI's prayer intention for the month of November has been "That married people may imitate the example of conjugal holiness shown by so many couples in the ordinary conditions of life."<BR><BR>That might sound like a tall order. But it's nothing new, at least for Rome, noted a visiting archbishop from Australia.<BR><BR>"With all the problems we face and all the ridicule that we're held up to," said Archbishop Philip Wilson of Adelaide, "we shouldn't allow ourselves then to feel that somehow or other we've lost our ability to be able to influence."<BR><BR>He put the challenge of conjugal and family-life morality in historical perspective for me.<BR><BR>"Sitting here in Rome and contemplating these things," he said, "it's really interesting when you think about what daily life was like in Rome when the Christians first came here presented with a state of intense immorality."<BR><BR>"In the area down near the Colosseum,
there were places where the pattern of sexuality was really quite awful and perverted," the 55-year-old prelate said.<BR><BR>He continued: "The ancient Romans used to comment on the early Christian community, saying how they had one wife, were faithful to their wife and family, and […] that they didn't 'expose' their children."<BR><BR>About the concept of "exposing" children, Archbishop Wilson said: "Though once interpreted that Christians didn’t practice infanticide of their imperfect children [as the Romans did], there's been research done that seems to indicate that what it was actually referring to was, when Romans didn't feel they could look after their children, they would take them to the Forum and leave them there.<BR><BR>"This meant that the children were taken up by people who ran prostitution … forcing them to be held as slaves for the sexual pleasure of both Roman men and women. So, things were really crook [warped], and there were big problems but … the influence of
Christianity was able to change that and turn things around."<BR><BR>But what was it about these Christians that happened to change the perception and even form the conscience of Rome?<BR><BR>Archbishop Wilson refers to the Pope's prayer when he speaks of the power of example.<BR><BR>"When you look at this massive explosion regarding our sexuality through the Internet, and other new forms still, you'll find that it doesn't accompany a major explosion in the happiness of people," he said.<BR><BR>"In the long term, it's our Church community who is in the business of bringing happiness and joy and we have to struggle to get there," the prelate added.<BR><BR>He cautioned, though, that the example of Christians living their marriages well is not enough. We have to build support networks in our own parish communities, as our Christian forefathers did, the archbishop said.<BR><BR>"I think that the way in which we deal with the reality of marriage, and the way that we help people to be
formed for marriage and support them then in marriage, will be crucial to the way that the Church is going to revivify itself in this century," he said.<BR><BR>"I believe the Holy Father's choice of prayer intention is highly significant because I've been convinced for a long time that the development and growth of the Church's life during this third millennium is dependent upon the sacrament of matrimony."<BR></DIV><BR><BR><DIV>
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<DIV><EM><FONT face="Comic Sans MS" color=#0000bf>Like a deer that longs for running waters so my soul longs for you, O God.</FONT></EM></DIV></FONT></EM></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT color=#0000bf><EM><FONT face="comic sans ms">Ps 42:1</FONT></EM></FONT></DIV>
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