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This prayer holds certain characteristics:

1. It is in the form of a mother wishing/advising to her daughter: it is
interesting that the benediction is addressed to the bride. This shows
the importance of the woman as wife, mother and daughter. Here a
possible concurrence can be seen with the importance given to the
28
role of women in Familiaris Consortio.
2. The Blessing is for a fruitful life.
3. The fruitful life here is the life with a partner and the children: here,
the future children are already included in the benediction. It is not
only a benediction to have offspring, but also a benediction to have a
fruitful family life with the offspring. This shows that fruitful life in
the family is a life with children, and marriage is naturally open to
procreation.
4. Family is a communion of persons: and in it, not only is there a
communion between bride and bridegroom, but this communion
includes others beginning with children.
5. Family is a Sanctuary: a holy place where the Almighty will give the
strength to obey and follow his will (lines 8 and 9), and where
“sharing” brings prosperity and growth (lines 4 and 5). They (bride
and bridegroom) are endowed with the duty to show the path of ‘His
Will’. It implies the important duty of faith formation, moral and
value education. And, thus, this ceremony expresses the awareness
of the Knānāya family that a Christian family is the Sanctuary of
Life, a “holy place where life is being transmitted and transformed”.
This is in concurrence with the mission that is expressed in FC 28.

This ceremony is the profound proclamation of what the Conference
of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) teaches: “The family is the cradle and
protector of new life. God is the creator of all life and parents have the
unique privilege to bring new life into this world and are rightly called co-
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creators”. This song is a final and solemn moral advice of a mother to her
newly-married daughter to co-operate together with her husband in the
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creative work of God.

28
Cf. Familiaris Consortio, no. 22.
29 CONFERENCE OF CATHOLIC BISHOPS OF INDIA, “Challenges to The Family
Apostolate, in Report of the Seventeenth Plenary Assembly of CCBI, Bangalore, 4-8,
March, 2005, p. 105.
30
Cf. Cf. LUKAS, P. U., Malayālatte Suriyāni Kristyānikalute Purātanappāttukal (Ancient
th
songs of the Syrian Christians of Malayalam, 1910), 7 Edition, Jyothi Book House,
Kottayam, 1992, p. 13, Line 27-28 (Malayalam).

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