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The mission of being a Sanctuary of Life includes caring for the life
of a child and helping it to transform and grow into an authentic person. By
singing the Syriac Hymn Barmaryam at the end of the marriage celebration,
the priests bless the spouses so that they will be able to fulfill this mission.

Knānāya family customs and traditions especially the Solemn
Reception by the Mother of the Bridegroom and the Most Solemn Blessing
by the Mother of the Bride invite the families, especially the spouses, to
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produce those moral, spiritual, supernatural fruits which will help their
children to “live effectively a fully human life” as stated by Pope John Paul
II: “by begetting in love and for love a new person who has within himself
or herself the vocation to growth and development, parents by that very fact
take on the task of helping that person ‘effectively to live a fully human
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life’”. Life is considered not only in a quantitative sense (Transmission of
life) but also in a qualitative sense (Transformation/education of life).
4.1.5.1 Transmit Love to “New Life”

Magisterium Southist Family Custom
of Pope John Paul II
Familiaris Consortio 14, 37 Song of Blessing (Ch. 3.7.9.3.1)

The first step towards the transformation/education of life is to
impart or transmit love to the children. In the Catholic tradition, the love of
the parents for their children is imperative. Scripture notes that parents
should love their children for they are blessings from God (Deut. 7, 14; Ps.
127, 3-5; 128, 1-4; Col. 3, 21). In the Gospel of Luke we find Mary and
Joseph searching for their Son for three days, and on the third day finding
him in the Temple. Mary says: “Look your father and I have been searching
for you in great anxiety” (Lk. 2, 48). This text can be a clear example for
parents as to how to love their children. Pope John Paul II also stressed this:
“When they become parents, spouses receive from God the gift of a new
responsibility. Their parental love is called to become for the children the
visible sign of the very love of God, from whom every family in heaven and
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on earth is named”. It is evident that the love of parents for their children

34
Cf. Familiaris Consortio, no. 28.
35 Ibid., no. 36.
36
Ibid., no. 14.

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