Tuesday, August 13 : Saint John-Paul II

According to his plan from the beginning, God created man and woman in his image. Scripture says: “In the divine image he created him; male and female he created them.” (Gen 1:27) In the book of Genesis it is thus important to understand this great truth: the image of himself, which God placed in the human person, is also given in the complementarity of the sexes. The man and the woman who unite in marriage reflect the image of God and are in some way the “revelation” of his love. Not only of the love which God has for the human being, but also of the mysterious communion, which characterizes the intimate life of the three divine persons. Moreover, one can consider the act of begetting itself to be the image of God, who makes of the family a sanctuary of life. The apostle Paul said that all parenthood derives its name from God (Eph 3:15). He is the ultimate source of life. We can thus affirm that the genealogy of every person plunges its roots into the eternal. By begetting a child, the parents act as God’s collaborators. A truly sublime mission! It is thus not surprising that Jesus wanted to raise marriage to the dignity of a sacrament, and that Saint Paul spoke of it as a “great mystery”, seeing it in relation to Christ’s union with his Church (Eph 5:32).
Roman Catholic Ordinary Calendar – rosary,team