What is a covenant? It is defined as a mutual promise between two parties. What is a family? I prefer the definition of spouse and children. I take the covenant of family literally to mean a promise on top of the promise of the covenant of marriage that husband and wife will live faithfully according to the new covenant that Jesus prescribes through His teachings. I am discovering that there are a lot of covenants between God and his faithful children.
Let’s get more specific. The covenant of family is a physical, literal, and metaphorical institution of part of Heaven on earth. So it takes the covenant of marriage and adds to that how we promise to raise our children, to ultimately return to God.
That is I think the whole point of family. We follow God’s instructions (the commandments), using the sacraments to help us in living righteously and growing in holiness. As we go through life, we get married and create life (children). Then as current children of God, Our Holy Father wants us to share his love with these new lives so that we can call be children of the Most High God the Father.
He loves us and wants to share his goodness, that is why he lets us create life. Even this is a narrowminded approach, because people who never submit to His will or acknowledge his love can create life. I have come to believe this is another way for His goodness to be made known to the world when people who will never have children of their own (biologically) can care for the downtrodden children that have been cast off by their parents or are rich in tragedy.
All of these are statements of faith, that are rooted in the things God has shown me by keeping me alive and being with me through all of my foolishness. I know that I don’t have to understand or be able to see the “big picture” to trust in Him!
