"I thank God . . . whenever I remember you in my prayers." In several of his letters St Paul lets us see how he prayed. Several times we hear him express his thanks for the people closest to him, his own disciples and the members of his communities. Paul knew how to thank God for graces which either he or his communities had received. It is more striking, however, and perhaps more challenging, to read his expressions of thanks for people, for these prayers manifest a special spiritual sensitivity on Paul's part. God is present to us especially in those who are close to us.

One of the liberating effects of the Gospel is that the most immediate and important bonds of community are not the primary bonds of the family. They are rather the bonds of the Gospel itself, bonds which create new forms of loyalty and dedication, new forms of fidelity and commitment. Since the grace of God is all pervasive, these new evangelical bonds of the Christian life do not, of course, destroy the bonds of family. Through attention to the needs of all our brothers and sisters, our familial bonds do take on new resonance of grace.