Do You Know Why You’re Lonely? The Pope Does.

By Elisa Meyer --
08 Oct 2015 --

By Tânia Rêgo/ABr (Agência Brasil) [CC BY 3.0 br], via Wikimedia Commons

Pope Francis addresses issues like greed and being lonely, along with the union of man and woman, family issues at this month’s Synod.

Pope Francis opened the Synod formally last Sunday talking to participants about the foundation of God’s plan of family. He said that God brought man and woman together to solve the problem of loneliness, something that many people face in today’s world.

He said the plan he’s describing is the same that is presented in the Gospel of Mark, where Jesus is quoted saying that from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. This is the same reason why man leaves his father and mother, and joins his wife where the two become one flesh.

God brought man and woman together to solve the problem of loneliness.[/tweetthis]

The Synod, which will be conducted from October 4 to October 25, is based on the theme of “The vocation and mission of the family in the Church and the modern world.” In today’s world where divorce and broken families are on the rise, Francis emphasizes on the need to strengthen the theory of union, partnership, and togetherness of a family.

While delivering his homily, Pope Francis pointed out the first reading from Genesis that spoke about Adam’s experience of solitude even though he had the dominion over the garden and the creatures therein. This problem seems somewhat similar to the problems faced by people in today’s globalized world, which though filled with high mansions and tall buildings, lacks the quintessential ingredient of the love and warmth of a family.

At the opening of the Synod on the Family, the Pope's homily describes God's beautiful plan for marriage. Let us… http://t.co/ZigFVbbYkZ
— Sheryl Coronel (@FiloteaHumilde) October 4, 2015

Pope: Family is integral part of God's plan for humanity Today's homily for the opening of the synod on the family. http://t.co/OQdVYdceLh
— Dean Sarnecki (@sarneckid) October 5, 2014

Lack of Seriousness to Build a Fruitful Relationship

One of the major problems facing people nowadays is their lack of seriousness to build a long standing, healthy relationship based on love. Stable, faithful, conscientious relationships do not hold the respect they used to hold earlier, which is making the world a more and more lonely place to live in. Being caught up in selfishness, greed for money, and destructive violence, people are subjecting themselves to interior emptiness. The most advanced countries are ones where birthrates are lowest, and have the highest rates of suicide, divorce, abortions, and social and environmental pollution. This paradoxical situation has left man lonelier than before.

The Pope said that it is the churches mission must be carried out in truth. Truth protects humanity from giving in to temptation and self-centeredness. Truth alone can stop turning fruitful love into sterile selfishness. He also pointed out that while carrying out her mission does not mean that the Church will point fingers and judge others, but helping people and wounded couples in need with the “balm of mercy and acceptance.”