What does the Church say? Part 1: Marriage

"The human body includes right from the beginning... the capacity of expressing love, that love in which the person becomes a gift – and by means of this gift – fulfills the meaning of his being and existence." This beautiful quote from St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body encapsulates why the Church teaches what she does on human sexuality—to help us live more fully our potential to each give our lives fully as a gift of self. It is only through this total gift of self that we find the ultimate meaning of our lives, in any vocation and state in life. "Man... cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself." (St. John Paul II) 

I'm excited to spend 4 early blog posts this year sharing a bit each week about what the Church teaches on some family planning and human sexuality topics, why these teachings are so important and beautiful, and how this may apply in your own life. 

Let's start with God's design for marriage!

In the beginning, God created man and woman to be one flesh. Their love was created to be “free, total, and fruitful.” They were naked without shame. (Genesis 2:24) However, through original sin, objectification, isolation, shame, and lust entered the world. 

When Jesus redeemed the world through His Incarnation, Death, and Resurrection, He elevated marriage to a sacrament—an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace (Baltimore Catechism). Married couples have access to all the grace necessary to live out their married lives virtuously if they continuously seek that help from Jesus. Through the grace of the sacrament of marriage, we can pursue God’s original design for married love: free, total, and fruitful. The unity in marriage is a foretaste of heaven, where we will all be totally united with God forever. 

"The fundamental nature of the marriage act, while uniting husband and wife in the closest intimacy, also renders them capable of generating new life... And if each of these essential qualities, the unitive and the procreative, is preserved, the use of marriage fully retains its sense of true mutual love and its ordination to the supreme responsibility of parenthood." (Humanae Vitae) 

In light of this view of marriage and the marital act, the Church’s stance against any form of artificial contraception starts to make more sense.