"The family is the first and the most important path of this earthly life. Indeed, a person normally comes into this world within a family, and can be said to owe to the family the very fact of his existing as an individual. The family has its origin in that same love with which the Creator embraces the created world. In the gospel Jesus offers a supreme confirmation: God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. (Jn 3:16). The only-begotten Son, entered into human history through the family. Born of the virgin Mary he truly became one of us and, except for sin, was like us in every respect"  

Letter to Families from John Paul II