Claim. The heavenly way is to extend one’s family love horizontally to neighbors, elders, children, and all ages.
Elaboration. SMM says people should love others’ grandparents, parents, spouses, and children as their own (CSG 4.11 §7, 128-22, 1983.5.29). Vertical love for family must appear horizontally in society. One cannot claim to love God while neglecting old people, children, or neighbors, because God is met through those family positions expanded in the world. The implication is practical: family-centered life is not clan isolation. It trains people to recognize and serve the same positions wherever they encounter them.
See also. give-and-take-action