Children are the supreme gift of marriage, and something which one has no “right” to have. Children in a well ordered society come from the marital embrace, that is to say that action by which man and woman
“share in the creative power and fatherhood of God” (CCC1994:2367).
No angel can do this. This embrace is ordered
“to the good of the spouses and to the procreation and education of children.” (CCC1994:2249).
How wonderful a thing it is that someone who never existed before, someone who is new and distinct and uniquely unrepeatable, can come into the world through love. How truly powerful love is. Can we really understand the depths of love. I think not. Why, to explore the depths of love would be to explore the love of God and that journey won’t end today and it surly won’t end tomorrow. In fact, it will never end, how could it?
I believe to even meditate on God’s love is enough to quench our thirst. It was our sin that nailed Jesus to the cross but it was the love of God that kept him there. We came into this world through love. Jesus left this world through love. The love of a man and woman tends to bring forth a life and that life has a name, for it is a person. As for the love of the cross, well, that love brings forth life. Let me repeat, it brings forth life! Such awesome power that it can hardly be named but better described and who could describe it in its entirety.
So what about contraception? Surely if the conjugal act itself is intended for life, to tamper with it in such a way as to make life impossible can be nothing other than a loveless lie. There no longer is a gift. That possibility is made into an impossibility as this child is not welcome. So if this “love” is denied the possibility of being life giving, what else can it be but a cold act of lifelessness. This “love” has no life. It is dead. I know what you’re thinking: “Oh, a dead love, how romantic!” Well yes, I suppose but perhaps our brothers and sisters who are dying on the inside could mistake almost anything for love in a desperate attempt to find a cure for that restlessness which we all have.
“For Thou hast formed us for Thyself,
and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee.“
Saint Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, 1,1.5
What is sadder again is that those who act in this way don’t know how to love, but only how to lie. The first lie is to dare call it love. Love typically brings life and people acting this way choose to make it impossible, so it cannot be love. The most intimate moment becomes a lie that rejects God and rejects each other. That is a little depressing and certainly not good for any relationship. Those people no longer give themselves to each other, but rather take each other for themselves in this way. What was once selfless becomes utterly selfish. To exclude God who holds all things in existence is not a good idea, believe it or not. So this “love” which excludes life itself must be dead and that’s a problem. This “love” brings death, not life.
There is far too much death in this world and not nearly enough life. Let us, in the present moment, live a life full of love and strive for a future full of life, so that even in our death, we may find life eternal and rest in thee, Oh Lord!
Thomas Patrick Leddy
Reference’s
- Catechism Of The Catholic Church ( abbreviated above as CCC1994) Latin text copyright Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Citta del Vaticano, English translation for Ireland copyright 1994 Veritas-Libreria Editrice Vaticana published in Ireland by veritas
- Saint Augustine of Hippo, Confessions, 1,1.5 website https://www.vatican.va/spirit/documents/spirit_20020821_agostino_en.html
