Life begins and springs into a being; a place of comfort where life is nurtured into His own image and likeness, where the whole world is experienced the womb the first cradle. Certainly, it is here that “The family is born of the intimate communion of life and love founded on the marriage between one man and one woman (Gaudium et Spes 48). It is here that the family stands complete! For a husband and wife makes a couple! It’s only and only when the third person comes from their union, it is/can be called a family.
The carrying arms of our siblings that cradled us, the strong knees that dandled us and the warm shoulders which gently and carefully protected us – were all little cradles where we felt cared, loved, understood and accepted by our loved ones in those moments of need and want. The quality time spent with the family developed affection as we grew in age and wisdom in this little cradle which became the first school.
St John Paul II, in Christifideles Laici says: “The family is presented in the Creator’s plan, as “the primary place of ‘humanisation’ for the person and society” and the “cradle of life and love” (cf.40).
St John Paul II in Familiaris Consortio says: “I see the family as a monastery which creates a climate for the education, evangelisation and the sanctification of each and every family member in order to send into the world missionaries who bring the saving leaven of Jesus Christ into a hostile world. I consider every member of the family as a potential missionary taking on the culture of death. We might say that the family is essentially a school, designed by God, for the evangelisation and sanctification of all its members, and through them the larger Church. That it is God who allows snows that result in avalanches is also the same God who inspires families to embrace the saving mystery of His son so as to transform the current culture of death into a culture of life and love.
St John Paul II was a living witness to these events. He stated that the family in the modern world has been besieged by a number of forces that have really tested it. Some families have weathered the storm well, others have become “uncertain and bewildered over their role or even doubtful almost unaware of the ultimate meaning and truth of conjugal and family life”.
I believe if our families, especially husbands and wives, spend time together, listening to one another, appreciating and affirming each other for who they are and putting the family first holding fast to their Faith, have respect for the other, then surely will trust be build; many problems solved. And undoubtedly, the primary place of humanisation, our family will continue to be cradle of life and love.
