The Meaning and Mission of the Family in Today's World

The world seems, in some cases, a spiritual desert, with large areas of skepticism and discouragement. The difficulties, problems, that humanity lives today; Our society, in family crises, divorces and incomplete families is a fact that we face every day.

Now, if the threats are serious and numerous, the hopes are also great. If there are many shadows, the positive direction of so many homes are appreciated, which despite the external and internal difficulties of their own family, have been faithful to their vocation and mission. Families that fully live the sacrament of marriage. Families where you say yes to God, to love, to life, to true freedom and mutual respect.

Is it possible to speak of a family mission? Or rather, each family has its mission, its identity. Are there some values ​​that are at the base of the identity and mission of the family? Or can these values ​​easily change without prejudice to the development of the family, society and the Church?. To answer these questions and deepen the meaning and mission of the family in today's world, we must revolve around one major theme: God's plan for marriage and the family.

God's plan for marriage and the family.

Where does the trend toward marriage and family come from? The tendency of men and women to unite in a conjugal coexistence?

In the first place we can say that marriage or family is not simply a social custom, or a form that imposes authority or a remedy for human weaknesses. The answer is found in God's own design for man: "God has created man in his image and likeness: Calling him into existence out of love, he has called him at the same time to love.

From here several consequences follow:

That we are creatures: God is the Creator and we are creatures. God has a plan for me that I am a creature. This plan, this personal call that God makes to me inscribes it in my being and consequently the capacity and responsibility to love and communicate. Love comes to me from above.

That we are creatures called to do something: therefore, love is the vocation, the fundamental and innate call of every human being.

That we are called creatures, but free to choose and that true freedom lies in choosing this vocation to love.

That God has two ways of calling: one of the two ways to carry out this vocation is marriage, the other virginity.

That I am a creature with a body and a spirit: Man is called to love in his unified totality, that is, a soul that expresses itself in a body. By virtue of this substantial union with a spiritual soul, the body cannot be reduced to a complex of organs, tissues and functions, but is a constitutive part of the person, which manifests itself through it. Love also encompasses the body.

If my body is not just a complex of organs, tissues and functions, for this very reason, sexuality is not something purely biological, but affects the most intimate part of the human person: his body and his spirit. It must be considered as the value of the person, as created in the image of God.

The only "place" where the total donation of a man to a woman is possible is marriage, that is, in that election. conscious and free with which man and woman accept the intimate communication of life and love that God himself has wanted. Contrary to what I have said, the world in which we live rejects many of these ideas: one can speak of justice, family, love, but they do not have God as a point of reference.

Today's man likes to be a "creator." Make use of his body and his sexuality according to his "creative plan", not as a creature. His "freedom" lies in irrationally defining the rules of the game. Go against the very nature of him. In a word, not accepting God's plan for marriage, family, and one's own person. And as Víctor Frankl says: "When people turn their backs on God, what is happening happens: there is contempt for life."

Do not forget, the world in which we live is in need, like few others, of love as a principle and force of communion and coexistence. Man cannot live without loving, and neither can family. Without love man, marriage and family remain incomprehensible beings to themselves.