Life, solidarity, hope: reference values for family advice centers of Christian inspiration.

Abstract

The main values that the family advice centers of Christian inspiration refer to are life, solidarity and hope. The starting point is the love for life, “from which and for which the family is”. This is the love that encourages concern, both in the form of voluntary work, and in the form of the paid services of its professional family advisors. The value and the dignity of human life arise from the fact that it is not a means but an end, and that it is a creation “in God’s image and likeness”, and that it is the truth to be discovered and protected. The truth of life leads to the love for life, a love that is directly connected to the truth that life itself expresses. The family advisor’s solidarity, in need and in discomfort, whether material or economic, passes through the privileged path of the family and is formative, true and nourished by the hope in God that is hope in life. Only in God the family and life can find fulfilment. With regard to this, the author quotes Isaiah: “Those who hope in the Lord regain their strength, have wings like eagles, run without panting, walk without tiring” (Is 40,31).