6. But when, and under what conditions, may the reply be an affirmative one? In order briefly to sum up everything, I say to you: If you have reached a suitable time of life, if you are at least twenty-four or twenty-five years of age, if you are sound both in body and mind, if you are not afflicted with any hereditary disease; if you have a fair prospect of being able, in the pursuit of your calling, to maintain a family, if you possess the requisite endowment and capacity to fulfil the difficult duties which devolve upon parents, and to be the head of a well-ordered household, and if you think that you can preserve your chastity and promote your sanctification better as a married man than as a bachelor, then you ought to marry. But on the other hand, it would not be right to refuse to found a family, merely from love of a free and comfortable existence. May God enlighten and direct you; may God bless you.
The selfsame faith and mutual love.
The selfsame hope for joys above,
Such bonds alone in wedded life
Will joy secure, and banish strife
LXXXVI. The Companion of Your Life
1.If you have reached a suitable age, and feel yourself called to the married state, then are you confronted with the most important affair - namely, that of seeking and selecting the partner of your life.
