WE need to know the difference as
well as the intimate
link between the two. The other day while presiding at a wedding, I
brought up this topic to underline an often forgotten and
misunderstood truth of faith.
Newly-weds will most likely become parents soon, and they
need to know the difference and the link between the two, so they can
carry out their parenthood properly. There’s a lot more than meets the
eye.
Creator, in the strict sense, is only God. He is the only
one capable of bringing to existence something or someone out of
nothing other than himself. As creator, God is the maker of everyone
and everything. Everyone and everything is his creature. Everyone and
everything cannot help but be a creature of God.
A procreator is the creaturely instrument who begets an
offspring definitely not out of nothing, but from something. He only
cooperates in the work of God’s creation. Everything that reproduces
itself, in a sense, is a procreator, though the term is more properly
used to refer to human parents.
A parent as the human instrument in the process of human
reproduction begets a child obviously from some biological raw
material that he or she has. But that’s not all. As procreator, he
cooperates in the bringing into existence of another human being who
is not purely a biological or a material being that can be reproduced
biologically, but also a spiritual being that can only come directly
from God.
In other words, every human person is not just a
biological entity. He is, much more than biological, a spiritual
being. His existence just cannot come about merely through biological
processes.
His existence depends directly on God. In fact, everything
depends on God directly for its existence even if its coming to
existence goes through the different forms of reproduction.
In the case of man, his coming into existence depends
first of all on the knowing and willing cooperation of the human
instruments with God’s work of the creation of a human person. That is
why, these human instruments, the parents, are called procreators,
strictly speaking, since they have to actively cooperate in God’s
creation.
Not so with the other creatures. They beget their
offsprings in some automatic fashion dictated by some laws of biology
and other laws of nature. And that’s simply because the plants and
animals do not have intelligence and will that would enable them to
cooperate actively with God in the process of reproduction. Their
nature determines the kind of reproduction they can make.
This distinction is crucial since it will bring out the
fact that the husband and wife as procreators of their children have
to carry out their responsibility as procreators by always keeping in
mind the will, the purpose, and the means God has for creating a
person.
Begetting a child should not just be a physical,
biological or emotional expression of one’s urges and love. Begetting
a child has God in the middle of it. In fact, it has God at the
beginning and end of it.
Parents as procreators should always bear this fundamental
truth in mind, and conform their duty to beget children according to
this truth. In our country, thanks to God, we still have a generally
religious culture that recognizes every child as a gift from God. That
fact is indeed a blessing, but we need to go much further than such
basic recognition.
According to our Catechism, God has a plan for the
creation of every person. Parents as procreators should fully do their
part in fulfilling the divine purpose for the creation of a person. I
would say this is their most important responsibility as parents. This
is the summit of their responsibilities. Everything else has to be
subordinated to this.
In the Compendium of the Catechism, we have the following
point that articulates God’s plan for man:
“God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan
of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own
blessed life. In the fullness of time, God the Father sent his Son as
the Redeemer and Savior of mankind, fallen into sin, thus calling all
into his Church and, through the work of the Holy Spirit, making them
adopted children and heirs of his eternal happiness.” (1)
It is important therefore that couples who want to enter
into marriage be made to realize this duty more deeply and
effectively. Once married, they should be constantly guided and helped
so they can carry out this responsibility properly.
link between the two. The other day while presiding at a wedding, I
brought up this topic to underline an often forgotten and
misunderstood truth of faith.
Newly-weds will most likely become parents soon, and they
need to know the difference and the link between the two, so they can
carry out their parenthood properly. There’s a lot more than meets the
eye.
Creator, in the strict sense, is only God. He is the only
one capable of bringing to existence something or someone out of
nothing other than himself. As creator, God is the maker of everyone
and everything. Everyone and everything is his creature. Everyone and
everything cannot help but be a creature of God.
A procreator is the creaturely instrument who begets an
offspring definitely not out of nothing, but from something. He only
cooperates in the work of God’s creation. Everything that reproduces
itself, in a sense, is a procreator, though the term is more properly
used to refer to human parents.
A parent as the human instrument in the process of human
reproduction begets a child obviously from some biological raw
material that he or she has. But that’s not all. As procreator, he
cooperates in the bringing into existence of another human being who
is not purely a biological or a material being that can be reproduced
biologically, but also a spiritual being that can only come directly
from God.
In other words, every human person is not just a
biological entity. He is, much more than biological, a spiritual
being. His existence just cannot come about merely through biological
processes.
His existence depends directly on God. In fact, everything
depends on God directly for its existence even if its coming to
existence goes through the different forms of reproduction.
In the case of man, his coming into existence depends
first of all on the knowing and willing cooperation of the human
instruments with God’s work of the creation of a human person. That is
why, these human instruments, the parents, are called procreators,
strictly speaking, since they have to actively cooperate in God’s
creation.
Not so with the other creatures. They beget their
offsprings in some automatic fashion dictated by some laws of biology
and other laws of nature. And that’s simply because the plants and
animals do not have intelligence and will that would enable them to
cooperate actively with God in the process of reproduction. Their
nature determines the kind of reproduction they can make.
This distinction is crucial since it will bring out the
fact that the husband and wife as procreators of their children have
to carry out their responsibility as procreators by always keeping in
mind the will, the purpose, and the means God has for creating a
person.
Begetting a child should not just be a physical,
biological or emotional expression of one’s urges and love. Begetting
a child has God in the middle of it. In fact, it has God at the
beginning and end of it.
Parents as procreators should always bear this fundamental
truth in mind, and conform their duty to beget children according to
this truth. In our country, thanks to God, we still have a generally
religious culture that recognizes every child as a gift from God. That
fact is indeed a blessing, but we need to go much further than such
basic recognition.
According to our Catechism, God has a plan for the
creation of every person. Parents as procreators should fully do their
part in fulfilling the divine purpose for the creation of a person. I
would say this is their most important responsibility as parents. This
is the summit of their responsibilities. Everything else has to be
subordinated to this.
In the Compendium of the Catechism, we have the following
point that articulates God’s plan for man:
“God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan
of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share in his own
blessed life. In the fullness of time, God the Father sent his Son as
the Redeemer and Savior of mankind, fallen into sin, thus calling all
into his Church and, through the work of the Holy Spirit, making them
adopted children and heirs of his eternal happiness.” (1)
It is important therefore that couples who want to enter
into marriage be made to realize this duty more deeply and
effectively. Once married, they should be constantly guided and helped
so they can carry out this responsibility properly.
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