174. "Mothers are the strongest antidote to the spread of self-centered individualism...It is they who testify to the beauty of life".192 Certainly, "a society without mothers would be dehumanized, for mothers are always, even in the worst of times, witnesses to tenderness, dedication and moral strength. Mothers often communicate the deepest meaning of religious practice in the first prayers and acts of devotion that their children learn... Without mothers, not only would there be no new faithful, but the faith itself would lose a good part of its simple and profound warmth... Dear mothers: thank you! Thank you for what you are in your family and for what you give to the Church and the world".193
192 Catechesis (7 January 2015): L'Osservatore Romano, 7-8 January 2015, p.8.
193 Ibid.
