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4th Pastoral Letter of the Bishop of Acqui

That is why our words are addressed more particularly to
you, Christian parents, who were called by God to the great, and
at the same time formidable, task of raising a family; but not
only to you. We would like them to be received also by the
many who in some way participate in your task, especially those
who can help you directly or indirectly (and who cannot do so?)
in the happy accomplishment of a work for the common good in
time and in eternity.
First of all we give thanks to the Lord that in our Diocese
there are still a good number of families in which the ministry of
the Christian education of children is carried out worthily. We
would be in great trouble today if our young people had not
found in the affectionate care, the teachings and useful and
salutary correction, and even more in the excellent examples of
those who governed them, either the preventions or remedies
against the seductions of vice and the poisons of the false
maxims which are being multiplied a thousand ways today
especially in the press.
We rejoice also that the young couples, whom the Lord
calls to found new families, are learning from their elders to
avail themselves of the graces received in the nuptial blessing
and to accomplish faithfully the duties of their state. O Christian
spouses, always remember that your children are a sacred trust
from God, of which he will ask you a strict accounting one day.
From their birth, children have a right to be surrounded by the
most solicitous care, and you have the duty of giving them
everything that is necessary for the preservation and
development of their strength: not only of body, but also and
especially of spirit, since to the body is joined a soul which lives
its own immortal life, and which develops and grows, so to
speak, by the nourishment of truth and virtue, and has an
elevated end that far surpasses all the passing pleasures and
happiness of this earth.
To care for the body by not letting it lack food and whatever

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