The program will begin at 3 a.m. with the Service of Light, which will be conducted by a priest and leader. Six families will participate, one from each of the six Croatian parishes consecrated to the Holy Family. The priest will light a special large votive candle in commemoration of Croatian Catholic families that will remain a memento of this encounter and be carried at all future encounters of Croatian Catholic families. At the end of the Mass, the candle will be blessed by the Holy Father, who will be presented with a smaller replica.
The texts for the Service of Light were written by the Rev. Marko Glogović, a Pauline monk, and refer to the seven stages of human development: conception, prenatal, birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age.
The families will receive special candles made for this occasion and will then take them to their respective parishes as mementos of this encounter. For each stage of life, one after another the fathers of the families will light their candles from the large candle, and the seventh will be lit by the priest. From the fathers’ candles, the other family members will light their own small candles and then bring them to those assembled in order to spread the light.

At 3:35 a.m. will begin the prayer of Our Lady’s Rosary. During the vigil, the three mysteries of the rosary will be prayed, led by three priests together with a succession of families, each representing a Croatian (arch)diocese. There will be a different family for each decade of the Rosary.
Each decade will be connected with one of the family themes related to the mystery meditated upon. The concept is as follows: a passage from the Gospel (read by the priest – the same priest for all five decades); excerpts from speeches by John Paul II or Benedict XVI in connection with the topic (read by the father of a family); prayer of intention (read by the mother of a family); prayer of the decade (led by parents and children).
The Joyful Mysteries will be led by a priest from the Diocese of Šibenik and five families from five Croatian dioceses: Krk, Bjelovar-Križevci, Varaždin, Gospić-Senj and the Military Ordinariate.

From 4:15 to 4:30 a.m., a recording of Pope John Paul II at the Hippodrome in 1994 will be played over the public address system.

The second part of the program will begin at 4:40 a.m. with the praying of the Rosary. The Mystery of Light will be led by a priest from the Archdiocese of Zadar and five families from five Croatian (arch)dioceses: the Eparchy of Križevci; the Dioceses of Dubrovnik, Sisak and Požega; and the Archdiocese of Đakovo-Osijek.
In conclusion, the priest will recite the Prayer for the Family by Pope John Paul II.

From 5:20 to 5:40 a.m., a mixed family choir will perform (Forum of Family Communities) together with the vocal/instrumental ensemble Emanuel. After each song, the leader will read short meditative texts on the theme of life and the family.
The ensemble Emanuel will participate musically in the program starting at 3 a.m. At 4:30 a.m., it will be joined by the family choir and together they will accompany the program until 7 a.m.

At 5:40 a.m., the praying of the Rosary will continue. The Glorious Mystery will be led by a priest from the Archdiocese of Rijeka and five families from five Croatian (arch)dioceses: the Archdioceses of Zagreb and Split-Makarska, the Dioceses of Hvar and Poreč-Pula, and the Metropolis of Vrhbosna (Sarajevo).

The part of the vigil from 6:20 to 7 a.m. will feature the testimonies of five Croatian families and representatives of Church movements, associations and communities engaged in pastoral ministry to the family.
Following the testimonies, a prayer for the family will be recited on the occasion of the National Encounter of Croatian Catholic Families and the Visit by Pope Benedict XVI to Croatia, followed by the singing of the official hymn of the encounter, To Christ, Faithful Forever (Kristu vjerni zauvijek).

The third part of the preliminary program will begin at 7 a.m. with a poetic-musical recital, “Adam, Where Are You?”
The author of the text and director is Rene Medvešek, the music was composed by Matija and Čedo Antolić, and the recital will be performed by four actors, the youth choir of the Parish of the Queen of the Holy Rosary in Zagreb and the children’s choir Little Magic Flutes (Čarobne frulice) of the Parish of the Holy Family in Zagreb.
The recital was conceived specifically for the National Encounter of Families and the arrival of Pope Benedict XVI, with the purpose of highlighting the role and importance of the family in God’s plan through the history of salvation.
The recital presents Creation – because God created the world for the family (Adam, Eve and their descendants); the Flood – because God protected Noah’s family when he restored the world; and the Holy Family – because God saved the world through the Holy Family.
The concluding prayer section of the preliminary program from 8 to 9 a.m. will be led by the President of the Council of the Croatian Conference of Bishops for the Family, Bishop Valter Župan of Krk, at which time the votive candle in commemoration of the Encounter of Croatian Catholic Families will be presented and lit.
This part of the program will include meditation and prayer in connection with the six vessels (Jesus’ miracle in Cana), which symbolically stand for the six fundamental virtues of marital and family life: love, compassion, fidelity, joy, forgiveness and patience. The prayer was composed by Msgr. Tomislav Ivančić and the same families who participated in the Service of Light will participate here. During the musical portion of the program, the same musical groups that performed in the recital will be joined by the mixed choir that will later sing during the Mass.
Meditation will be followed by the renewal of marital vows, thanksgiving for fertility in marriage and children, and the consecration of Croatian families to the Holy Family.