Claim. Love is the eternal element of human life, connecting birth, marriage, descendants, ancestors, and the spirit world.
Elaboration. SMM compares love to sunlight for plants: “love is an element of life for people” (CSG 4.4 §3, Blessed Family 1062). People receive physical nutrition from the universe and love from God, and they mature by broadening love from parents to siblings, tribe, and spouse. Marriage becomes a school where men and women learn one another; children are “educational materials” connecting parents to the future; filial piety connects people to ancestors and the spirit-world. All these relations move like blood vessels through a body. The section concludes that the greatest happiness is to become a servant of love, because the whole universe is organized through love’s vertical and horizontal connections.
See also. spirit-world