Child

True love is always a fresh and profound experience. Young people first met. Then a mutual interest in each other awakened in them. Then there was this mysterious feeling, that they are made for each other. They fell in love. Fortress, that it was the richest and most beautiful experience of their lives. And finally they got married.
Does it result from this, it's over ? Are all in love, who got married, they no longer have anything great and beautiful in front of them ? Can the love of two married people grow even further?, deepen and enrich ? Does love reach its end in mutual surrender ?

Love and the transmission of life

The source of life is love. Love enriches life, it multiplies, protects and revives. The best example of this truth is conjugal love. By its very nature, it is directed to this, to create and awaken new life.

With the birth of the baby, the spouses' love is consolidated and expanded, because it does not only cover themselves, but also the fruit of their mutual love - a child. They no longer live only for each other as husband and wife, but they become father and mother. Their home becomes a family home. A marriage turns into a family, in which the child is surrounded by paternal and maternal love. Caring for the child, perfect love of the spouses. The most precious gift of marriage are children, which in turn bring their parents the most happiness. Thanks to the spouses' love, their own family and human family grows.

The child, therefore, is the crowning of conjugal love. Therefore, the love of two people does not end with marriage. It gives rise to a new life, it deepens and continues.

Religious value of conjugal love

The love of two people is of great value because God is its creator. It came from the highest source - God, who is love (1 J 4, 8) and "Father, from which every family in heaven and on earth is named " (Ef 3, 15). To make your love plan come true in people, God instituted marriage. In it, mutual love of two people develops and matures. Spouses :

“By giving yourself to one another, only appropriate and exclusive to them, they strive for such a community of people, that by perfecting one another in it, they collaborated simultaneously with God in bringing into the world and raising new people " (Paul VI, Encyklika Humanae vitae, 8).

Spouses not only cooperate with God in the work of creation, but their true love shows to others, how God is good and loving.

After the creation of the first humans, God blessed and commanded them : “Be fruitful and multiply, that you would populate the earth " (Gen. 1, 28). So the Creator, who is love and created everything out of love, he linked the transmission of life to conjugal love and made it dependent on it. Those, who vow to live in love, authorizes and calls to bear children. Consequently, conjugal love and parenthood have a religious value, for they are involved in the work of creation. However, God gave conjugal love a special value and dignity through this, that he included her in the work of salvation. Conjugal love is directed and enriched by the saving power of Jesus Christ. This happens above all in the sacrament of marriage, who strengthens and as if consecrates spouses to the duties and dignity of their state. By faithfully fulfilling my marriage and family responsibilities, the spouses improve and sanctify each other more and more, and thus bring glory to God (by. KDK 48). Christ made salvation dependent on the fulfillment of the commandment of love. The spouses, in their own way, obey this commandment : they serve and receive favors, they love and are loved. So the spouses cooperate with God, who created us out of love and saves us through love. Conjugal love is thus included in God's creative and saving love.

Family planning

In the liturgy of the sacrament of marriage, the priest asks the spouses on behalf of the Church, whether they are ready to accept offspring, which God will give them. The validity of the marriage depends on their consent. Marriage, however, is not only ordained for the procreation of children, but also for that, that the mutual love of the spouses is properly expressed, it developed and matured (by. KDK 50). God did not specify the number of children, which spouses are to bear. People should be guided by reason in these important matters, taking into account the welfare of the family, society and the Church. They should learn more and more about the laws governing the transmission of life. Family counseling services are available to assist in family planning, e.g.. at parishes.
Once a man is conceived in the womb, his parents have no power over his life. They are only servants of the conceived life. Termination of pregnancy is forbidden by God's commandment - "Do not kill" and is one of the gravest mortal sins.

How will I answer God ?

You don't owe your life to yourself. It was given to you by your father and your mother. They cooperated with God, who calls all people into existence out of love. Your birthday is an important day for the whole family. Your parents lived the day most deeply. For all of this, you owe your parents gratitude, respect and love.
So think about it, how you relate to your mother and father today ? Should anything be improved in relation to them?, remove ?

Every year we celebrate "Mother's Day". Society, especially the children express their gratitude on this day, respect and love for these mothers, who have undertaken a difficult and responsible mission : conception, birth and upbringing of new generations. The expression of respect for mothers is, for example,. inscriptions in shops, at the ticket offices, that pregnant mothers are handled outside the queue. Mother and baby trains have special compartments, separate seats in trams and buses.

And what is your attitude towards the parents of your friends or colleagues ? What do you think when you see a woman expecting a baby ? Do your thoughts, words and conversations are worthy of this mystery, which takes place in it ? Consider, do you need to change something in your thoughts, courts, opinions and conversations on the sacred secret of transmitting life ?

Consider the words of the psalm 138 :

"Lord, You penetrate me and you know me.
You know me, when they sit and when I stand. you understand my thoughts from afar and you see my path and my rest and you are familiar with all my ways.
For You molded my kidneys and weaved it in my mother's womb.
They praise you, for you have made me wonderfully, and your works are wonderful, and my soul knows it.
My bones are not hid from You, while formed I was hidden, and woven inside the dust.
Even then your eyes saw my seed,
all the days are written in your book,
to come,
although none of them existed then " (Crowd. R. Brandstaetter).

■ Think:

1. Do czego zmierza miłość małżeńska?
2. Co jest uwieńczeniem miłości małżeńskiej ?
3. Kogo Bóg powołuje i upoważnia do przekazywania życia ?
4. Dlaczego miłość małżeńska i przekazywanie życia posiadają wartość religijną ?
5. Komu Bóg pozostawił decyzję co do ilości dzieci w rodzinie ?
6. Czym powinni kierować się małżonkowie w podejmowaniu decyzji co do ilości dzieci ?
7. Jakie są zadania rodziców wobec poczętego życia ?

■ Remember:

8. Do czego Bóg powołał i upoważnił małżonków ?

God called and empowered spouses to cooperate with Him in transmitting life.

■ Task :

How society cares for mothers and children ? - Why ?