가정의 본질

The Nature of the Family : The Family is the Place of Birth and Death

1. The Pope John Paul II, in his Apostolic Exhortation "Familiaris Consortio"(no 17), urged the "family to become what you are" and stressed that the family is essentially a community of love and life (cf: Familiaris Consortio nos 11, 17). This expression is based on "Gaudium et spes" of the Second Vatican Council which says that "the Christian family, which springs from marriage as a reflection of the loving covenant uniting Christ with the Church, and as a participation in that covenant, will manifest to all people the Savior's living presence in the world, and the genuine nature of the church"(Gaudium et spes, 48). However the family in the current society where the "death culture" is widespread has lost its essential values, and egoism, divorce, contraception, sterilization, abortion, family violence and euthanasia have increased. According to "Familiaris Consortio" the root cause of these negative effects of the family lies in the refusal of God. God is forgotten. In the process of dechristianization in which God is forgotten and the meaning of conjugal love and family was faded, moral values has become demolished. Especially the loss of the original meaning of marriage and Christian matrimony is evident as well as the crisis of identity of the family. The "death culture" has taken over our society. Therefore the recovery of the identity of the family in the plan of God is urgently needed. 2. The archetype of the family is God, and he is the source of love and life. God's plan for the family is to promote the conjugal life and the community of love to the sacramental lvoe through the Paschal mystery of Christ and for the family contribute to the society and the Church by means of the fertility and education as a collaborator of God. Thus the spouse has a mission to respond to this plan of God through love which is the transmission of life and education. The birth of life is a natural fruit of love and a response to the God's plan. Fecundity is the fruit and sign of conjugal love, the living testimony of full reciprocal of self-giving of the spouses. Therefore the transmission of the gift of human life which is the fundamental task of the family is to serve life, to actualize in history the original blessing of the Creator-that of transmitting by procreation the divine image from person to person(cf: Familialis Consortio, no 28). To rediscover and make others rediscover the inviolable dignity of every human person makes up an essential task, in a certain sense, the central and integral task of the service which the family is called to render to the human family. 3. The dignity of the person is the most precious possession of an individual. As a result, the value of one person transcends all the material world (cf: Christifideles Laici, no 37(. First of all the parents have to overcome with love and continence all the difficulties that come from the methods for the natural regulati on of fertility and to educate their children about the fundamental value of human life with courage and confidence. The family is the first and fundamental school where one learns about the social life and its law of growth finds in "self-giving" or "free giving". Therefore the Christian family has to grow into a loving community day by day and be able to overcome inevitable difficulties of daily life in faithfulness and harmony. It should become more and more a life giving community by transmitting new lives, the image of God, and to educate them with joy. It should become a Christ-centered community of grace. Also this community has to respect elderly people who approach to the end of their life journey and to take care of them with love. As the Holy Father mentions it in his Message for the celebration of the World Day of Peace, January 1st, 1994, the family that is founded on love and opens to the gift of life contains in itself the very future of society.