Let the children to come to me Mark 10:14

The Educational Mission of the Family in the Light of the Vocation to Love
Dr Stephen Milne June 2011 Third International Symposium on John Paul II s Theology of the Body

We will consider: What we mean by vocation and a vocation to love The situation of childhood today Conjugal love as the authentic basis for education in the family Fruitfulness as a property of authentic love Parents as primary educators The education of conscience, chastity and human sexuality

God is love (1 Jn 4:8), and in Himself He lives a mystery of personal loving communion. Creating the human race in His own image and continually keeping it in being, God inscribed in the humanity of man and woman the vocation, and thus the capacity and responsibility, of love and communion Love is therefore the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being. Blessed John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, 11.

The family has the mission to guard, reveal and communicate love, and this is a living reflection of and a real sharing in God's love for humanity and the love of Christ the Lord for the Church His bride. Blessed John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, 17

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Modern men and women seem to have declared war on their children. John Saward The Way of the Lamb

Children need parents and teachers who are unselfish and from whom they learn the secret of harmonious living: putting human relationships above all else. We want our children to discover that caring for others and contributing to the common good is ultimately more satisfying than either wealth, beauty or personal success. The Good Childhood Report Conclusions

"The Christian vocation is, therefore, a call to unite oneself to Christ and to take him as one's model, to follow and imitate him, thanks to the gift of his own life. Ramon Garcia de Haro, Marriage and Family

Modern rationalism does not tolerate mystery. It does not accept the mystery of man as male and female, nor is it willing to admit that the full truth about man has been revealed in Jesus Christ For rationalism it is unthinkable that God should be the Redeemer, much less that he should be "the Bridegroom", the primordial and unique source of the human love between spouses. Blessed John Paul II Letter to Families 19.

Man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it. Blessed John Paul II, Redemptor Hominis, 10

In the begetting of children marriage reflects its divine model, God's love for man. In man and woman, fatherhood and motherhood, like the body and like love, cannot be limited to the biological: life is entirely given only when, by birth, love and meaning are also given, which make it possible to say yes to this life. Pope Benedict XVI 2005

Marriage, the ordinary state of life for so many Christians, is a path to holiness by the way of love s beauty. Love is the seed of holiness . Blessed John Henry Newman

The right and duty of parents to give education is essential it is original and primary with regard to the educational role of others it is irreplaceable and inalienable, and therefore incapable of being entirely delegated to others or usurped by others parents' love is also the animating principle and therefore the norm inspiring and guiding all concrete educational activity. John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, 36.

By virtue of their ministry of educating, parents are, through the witness of their lives, the first heralds of the Gospel for their children. Blessed John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, 39

In this garden must be planted good affections and principles, while the nettles, briars, and other barren weeds of pride and deceptive pleasure are carefully and consistently rooted out. Gerard B. Wegemer Thomas More: A Portrait of Courage

Today we too find ourselves in the midst of a dramatic conflict between the "culture of death" and the "culture of life". But the glory of the Cross is not overcome by this darkness; rather, it shines forth ever more radiantly and brightly, and is revealed as the centre, meaning and goal of all history and of every human life. Blessed John Paul II Evangelium Vitae, 50

Through the family passes the primary current of the civilization of love The educator is a person who "begets" in a spiritual sense. From this point of view, raising children can be considered a genuine apostolate [which makes parents and children] sharers in truth and love, that final goal to which everyone is called by God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Blessed John Paul II, Letter to Families, 15-16.

I address you, dear parents, to ask you first of all to remain firm for ever in your reciprocal love: this is the first great gift your children need if they are to grow up serene, acquire self-confidence and thus learn to be capable in turn of authentic and generous love. Further, your love for your children must endow you with the style and courage of a true educator helping them to distinguish clearly between good and evil. Pope Benedict XVI 2008

Beauty, a kind of mirror of the divine, inspires and vivifies young hearts and minds, while ugliness and coarseness have a depressing impact on attitudes and behaviour. Pope Benedict XVI 2007

A child needs loving attention. This means that we must give children some of our time, the time of our life. But precisely this "raw material" of life - time seems to be ever scarcer. The time we have available barely suffices for our own lives; how could we surrender it, give it to someone else? To have time and to give time - this is for us a very concrete way to learn to give oneself, to lose oneself in order to find oneself. Pope Benedict XVI 2006.

"It is an illusion to think that we can build the true culture of human life if we do not help the young to accept and experience sexuality and love and the whole of life according to their true meaning and in their close interconnection." Blessed John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 97.

The successful integration of sexuality within the person and thus the inner unity of man in his bodily and spiritual being. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2337.

Only a true love is able to protect life." Blessed John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 97.

The family is placed at the centre of the great struggle between good and evil, between life and death, between love and all that is opposed to love. To the family is entrusted the task of striving, first and foremost, to unleash the forces of good, the source of which is found in Christ, the Redeemer of man. Blessed John Paul II, Letter to Families, 23.

"We need first of all to foster, in ourselves and in others, a contemplative outlook. Such an outlook arises from faith in the God of life, who has created every individual as a wonder (cf. Ps 139:14). It is the outlook of those who see life in its deeper meaning, who grasp its utter gratuitousness, its beauty and its invitation to freedom and responsibility. Blessed John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae, 83.