We’ve established that male and female
were created in God’s image, that as such they were created to yearn for each
other and to be joined as one body in covenantal union, an icon of the inner
life of the Holy Trinity, open to procreation of new life. Sacramental marriage
reflects Jesus’ marriage with his bride, the Church, to whom he gives his body
in love.
In his book Theology of the Body for Beginners Christopher West writes the
following:
“Christ’s love seems distinguishable by four particular qualities.
First, Christ gives his body freely
(“No one takes my life from me, I lay it down of my own accord,” Jn 10:18).
Second, he gives his body totally--without
reservation, condition, or selfish calculation (“He loved them to the last,” Jn
13:1). Third, he gives his body faithfully
(“I am with you always,” Mt 28:20). And fourth, he gives his body fruitfully (“I came that they may have
life,” Jn 10:10). If men and women are to avoid the pitfalls of counterfeit
love, and live their vocation to its full, their union must express the same free, total, faithful, fruitful love
that Christ expresses.
“Ultimately all questions of sexual
morality come down to one very simple question: Does this act truly image God’s
free, total, faithful, fruitful love or does it not?”
Contraception does not image God’s free,
total, faithful, fruitful love. It robs the sacred union of husband and wife of
its inherent divine image.
There is nothing immoral about purposely
avoiding pregnancy for legitimate reasons. (“We don’t want to be bothered with
children” is not a legitimate reason. Serious financial difficulties, the
emotional demands of other children, health concerns, these are legitimate
reasons.) But using contraception is never morally licit. God built into the
body his plan for married couples to conceive children as well as to avoid
conception; faithfulness to the nuptial meaning of the body images and
glorifies God, contraception, which is not faithful to this meaning, does not.
Many people ask “What’s the difference,
really, between contraception and natural family planning? They both achieve
the same end. The Church teaches that every sexual union of husband and wife
must be open to procreation--but when a couple uses natural family planning
they are also trying to avoid pregnancy, they’re having sex while not being
open to procreation either! Isn’t this a hypocritical stance?”
There is a fundamental difference
between contraception and natural family planning, and this difference is what
we’ll explore next in this series.
