heaven. This is the most lofty aim, the highest goal of a union which a sacrament has rendered holy.
Just as Christ loved His own, not merely until His own end, but in such a way as to enable them to attain their final goal, which is eternal felicity, so must the husband love his wife in such a manner that they may both attain their final end, eternal blessedness. Therefore they should pray together, together attend divine service, and receive the sacraments.
5. Married people have another important duty: they must bring up their children in the fear of God.
At the day of the last judgment we who have the care of souls do not fare like private individuals; we have not merely to answer for what we have personally done or left undone, but when we have given an account of this, we shall be asked about the condition of those who have been entrusted to our care.
In the same manner shall fathers and mothers be judged, not only in regard to what their own lives have been, but also as to the manner in which they have brought up their children. This duty in regard to the proper training of children ought of itself to suffice to cause you, if you are a young man thinking of matrimony, to reflect very seriously, and not to answer the question: "Ought I to marry?" with thoughtless haste in the affirmative.
