“ Welcoming a child, through birth or adoption, is an act of faith as well as an act of love. ”

2. “The desire and ability of a man and woman to form a lasting bond of love and life in marriage are written into their nature.” • Married Love and the Gift of Life 2006

4. “To the extent that they are sincerely open to love and set out with whatever light they can find, [men and women] are already, even without knowing it, on the path leading to faith.” Lumen Fidei, Pope Francis, 2013

5. “This discovery of love as a source of knowledge, which is part of the primordial experience of every man and woman, finds authoritative expression in the biblical understanding of faith.” Pope Francis, Lumen Fidei, 2013

6. “In the family, faith accompanies every age of life, beginning with childhood: children learn to trust in the love of their parents…. Absorbed and deepened in the family, faith becomes a light capable of illumining all our relationships in society.” Pope Francis, Lumen Fidei, 2013”

8. “In Mary, the Daughter of Zion, is fulfilled the long history of faith of the Old Testament, with its account of so many faithful women, beginning with Sarah: women who, alongside the patriarchs, were those in whom God’s promise was fulfilled and new life flowered.” Pope Francis, Lumen Fidei, 2013

9. “Christians know that suffering cannot be eliminated, yet it can have meaning and become an act of love and entrustment into the hands of God who does not abandon us; in this way it can serve as a moment of growth in faith and love.” Pope Francis, Lumen Fidei, 2013

10. “In conformity with her constant tradition, the Church receives from the various cultures everything that is able to express better the unsearchable riches of Christ.” Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio,1981

12. “The family and society have complementary functions in defending and fostering the good of each and every human being.” Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio,1981

13. “Thanks to love within the family, the Church can and ought to take on a more homelike or family dimension” Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio,1981

14. “The great task that has to be faced today for the renewal of society is that of recapturing the ultimate meaning of life and its fundamental values.” Pope John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio, 1981

16. “When people talk about life in a family, they speak of love with its abiding peace, its searing pain, its moments of joy and disappointment, its heroic struggle and ordinary routines.” • Follow the Way of Love, 1994

17. “The story of family life is a story about love—shared, nurtured, and sometimes rejected or lost” • Follow the Way of Love, 1994

18. “Knowing your many joys and struggles, we value your witness of fidelity in marriage and in family life. We rejoice with you in your happiness. We walk with you in your sorrow.” • Follow the Way of Love, 1994

20. “Wherever a family exists and love still moves through its members, grace is present. Nothing—not even divorce or death—can place limits upon God's gracious love.” • Follow the Way of Love, 1994

21. “Welcoming a child, through birth or adoption, is an act of faith as well as an act of love.” Follow the Way of Love, 1994

22. “Each generation of a family is challenged to leave the world a more beautiful and beneficial place than it inherited.” Follow the Way of Love, 1994

24. “Male and female are distinct bodily ways of being human, …two distinct yet harmonizing ways of responding to the vocation to love.” Marriage: Love and Lifee in the Divine Plan, 2009

25. “The mutual married love of man and woman ―becomes an image of the absolute and unfailing love with which God loves man[kind]” Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 2009

26. “Fidelity until death is what couples aspire to and what they promise to each other.” Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 2009

28. “Just as families render an invaluable service to society, society has a reciprocal obligation to protect and support families” Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 2009

29. “The Sacrament of Matrimony renews the natural institution of marriage and elevates it so that it shares in a love larger than itself.” Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 2009

30. “All of us know something about the depth, the intimacy, and the beauty of the gift of self that occurs in the marriage of husband and wife.” Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 2009

32. “Marriage, then, is to be a school for nurturing gratitude for the gifts of God and for openness to the gifts of God that are proper to marriage.” Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 2009

33. “When the two spouses live together in peace, they provide a reminder to all Christians that progress toward the unity for which Christ prayed is possible.” Marriage: Life and Love in the Divine Plan, 2009

34. “Faith and hope find their fullest expression in love—love of God and love of neighbor.” Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 2009

36. “Marriage continually sends the believing Catholic back again to the Eucharist. Marriage is a school for gratitude.” Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 2009

37. “On their wedding day, the couple says a definitive “yes” to their vocation of marriage. Then the real work of marriage begins.” Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 2009

38. “[Grandparents] can be - and so often are - the guarantors of the affection and tenderness which every human being needs to give and receive.” Benedict XVI, World Meeting of Families, 2006

40. “The Lord makes it possible for us, through our human love, to be sensitive, loving and merciful like Christ.” Benedict XVI, World Meeting with Families, 2006

41. “The experience of being loved by their parents helps children to become aware of their dignity as children.” Benedict XVI, World Meeting with Families, 2006,

42. “Human fatherhood and motherhood are rooted in biology, yet at the same time transcend it.” Pope John Paul II, Letter to Families, 1994

44. “The question about children and their education is profoundly linked to marital consent, with its solemn promise of love, conjugal respect, and fidelity until death.” Pope John Paul II, Letter to Families, 1994

45. The sacramental union of the two spouses, sealed in the covenant which they enter into before God, endures and grows stronger as the generations pass. Pope John Paul II, Letter to Families, 1994

46. “We need to pray that married couples will love their vocation, even when the road becomes difficult.” Pope John Paul II, Letter to Families, 1994

48. “Only if the truth about freedom and the communion of persons in marriage and in the family can regain its splendour, will the building of the civilization of love truly begin.” Pope John Paul II, Letter to Families, 1994

49. “To love means to give and to receive something which can be neither bought nor sold, but only given freely and mutually.” Pope John Paul II, Letter to Families, 1994

50. “The prayer of the family as a community can become a place of common and mutual remembrance: the family is in fact a community of generations.” Pope John Paul II, Letter to Families, 1994