Last week in this column, we reminded ourselves that Christ has told His followers that we are to be the light of the world. In view of the recent horrifying YouTube videos about the Planned Parenthood selective means of destroying human embryos and subsequent sale of body parts, the need for our light is undeniable. As a society, we are losing our soul and our humanity.

In a mere five weeks, Pope Francis will come for his first in his lifetime visit to the United States. He is coming to be part of the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia. His presence will remind us of another way in which the world and the United States needs his light and ours. That has to do with the sad state of the modern family and the challenges confronting our young people.

According to one set of statistics, since 1965, the number of couples entering marriage in the Catholic Church has fallen by roughly 55 percent. During that same period, the number of infant baptisms in the Church has declined by roughly 45 percent. However, the number of first born children born outside of marriage is now about 40 percent.

In short, the number of marriages is plummeting while the number of young people who choose cohabitation or other arrangements in place of marriage is rising. Further, marriage is being seen more and more as an optional arrangement when having children.

And we need to be honest. This is happening in Catholic families at a high rate as well.

The decline of the family has profound spiritual consequences for the individuals involved. The passage of time has not made fornication and unchastity any less of a grave sin than in the letters and times of St. Paul.

The consequences in our struggle for life eternal, and the potential loss of life with Christ are not often mentioned, but eternity in hell is dreadful to ponder. For that alone our light is needed to awaken souls.

But humanly and for our society, the collapse of the family and its attendant values has tremendously painful earthly consequences for individuals.

Recent studies have shown statistically that children of divorce have a very high rate of health-related issues as well as higher rates of academic and social problems. And there is a sad correlation between family breakdowns and poverty.

Spiritually and humanly, the family in our society is being increasingly shrouded in darkness.

What kind of witness, then, should we be giving in order to strengthen the family? More than anything else, we need the witness of living. We must begin with marriage, the love and commitment between a man and a woman that Catholic writer G.K. Chesterton, referring to the Book of Genesis, rightly called the first command of God. Marriage between a man and a woman is how we are made.

Husbands and wives must make the lived commitment that their marriage is the defining part of their faith and their search for salvation. Every other part of life must be in service to their marriage as they search for holiness.

Husbands and wives must show each other, the world, and especially their children how to give of themselves fully to the other. Then, as part of the family, both must give themselves fully to their children.

In this context, children are received by the spouses as a gift, not just as a function in marriage. From that standpoint, we might hope for a greater openness to more children. The Church’s teaching on avoiding artificial contraception and sterilization would then be better understood as consistent with a family that gives of itself completely in marriage.

Of course, along with the lived witness there will be need for a spoken witness. Parents must instruct their children in the value of the family. It’s not always easy. But when the children are made to value family and faith above other obligations, with time they learn to understand and appreciate the importance of family bonds.

To be light for the world is a positive task. Light always overcomes darkness because light is a reality on its own and darkness is simply the absence of light.

No matter how hard it seems at times, because we are the light of Christ in how we live and in our Catholic faith, what we are witnessing to is good and it will eventually prevail.