English
EspañolDo you have a family in which each member loves one another? Then you have the greatest treasure for life.
How important it is that we value our own families! How precious they are to their members and society! They are the only environment where, out of love and from birth until death, each one of us, even with nothing to offer, is worth it all. The family humanizes us because it educates us in every moment of ordinary life, allowing us to become virtuous and capable of loving. In doing so, from love, family homes humanize society as a whole.
I want a family in which everybody loves one another. I want that treasure in my life. I have the right to love and be loved as God commands – truly, wholeheartedly, and sincerely, faithfully for life. Why should I give up this project? Why should I fool myself with a cheap deal?
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“Training in the areas of emotion and instinct is necessary … This does not mean renouncing moments of intense enjoyment, but rather integrating them with other moments of generous commitment, patient hope, inevitable weariness and struggle to achieve an ideal. Family life is all this, and it deserves to be lived to the fullest.” (The Joy of Love, n.148)
Commentary
The best school for educating our emotions and impulses is undoubtedly our family.
A child who is taught that he cannot expect everything he demands at a given moment and is rewarded when he agrees to wait is learning the value of waiting and developing his capacity to be patient.
By sharing toys, clothes, food, and the house’s different rooms among siblings, we are forging generous spirits. Helping with household chores makes us more proactive and collaborative. These are just a few examples.
In family life, we live moments of great joy and happiness when things are going well, but we also face difficult moments such as when our grandfather is sick, and we must take him home to take care of him, or when the economic situation warrants some adjustments in the family budget and our weekend entertainment. These experiences teach us strength in the face of adversity and moderation in scarcity.
Taking advantage of all the circumstances that arise in the family to educate its member´s characters will depend a lot on the parents, by accustoming the children not to demand and obtain everything they ask for at the cost of crying and tantrums, or teaching them to value and be grateful for what they have, taking home the sick grandfather to accompany him and take care of him, without letting him spend his days abandoned in a nursing home because he might be a nuisance disturbing the family´s comfort.
Let us value these experiences of excellent human depth. Let us enjoy the pleasant moments and happy circumstances. Let us take advantage of the inevitable setbacks because they hold much richness and potential for growth for our familyand us. Adversity and difficulties are also opportunities to learn how to be better.
