Claim. Original human life moves through parental love, conjugal love, and children’s love as formation, growth, and completion.
Elaboration. SMM defines the cause and purpose of human existence as love: human beings begin through love and fulfill their purpose by “completing the ideal of love” (CSG 4.4 §2, Blessed Family 1062). The original life of creation is to be “born as the fruit of love, live in love, and return to the eternal love of God’s bosom.” He then describes the sequence: parental love is formation-stage love, conjugal love is growth-stage love, and love for children is completion-stage love (48-11, 1971.8.31). The four-position-foundation is the focal form where these vertical and horizontal loves converge. Human life is therefore patterned as a curriculum of love, not merely a biological span.
See also. formation-growth-completion-stages, four-position-foundation