Claim. Young adulthood is a once-only flowering in which love’s power awakens and must be prepared for rightly.
Elaboration. SMM describes young adulthood as a period of emotional expansion and danger: youth can turn everything upside down self-centeredly, yet this is because God’s original nature seeks full man-woman unity through love (CSG 4.6 §4, 33-332, 1970.8.23). He calls the period from eighteen to twenty-four “the beautiful flower of love” that blossoms only once (26-151, 1969.10.25). The image of a tightly wrapped peony makes the point: youth is precious because love is about to open, but it is also vulnerable because it can be harmed before proper blooming. Preparation for marriage is therefore not repression of youth’s beauty but stewardship of its single irreplaceable season.
See also. formation-growth-completion-stages