The Lie of Contraception
Well, here begins the first of hopefully many blog entries in this series. As I am preparing for the Sacrament of Matrimony, I thought it would be appropriate to convey the Church's teaching on contraception and the true meaning of love within marriage.
Marriage, according to the Church is described as follows: "The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament." (CCC 1601)
Marriage is the total gift of oneself to the other. This gift entails the gift of mind, body, emotion, trust, and most of all love. We must understand that love is not simply the warm fuzzy feeling we get when we are attracted to someone. Love is to will the good of the other. To love our spouse means that we want what is genuinely best for them, which is undoubtedly the attainment of Heaven. We must let nothing separate us from this vision of true marital love.
From this thought we can begin to see why contraception is so injurious to the proper dignity of marriage. The marital act is meant for two distinct and admirable ends: 1) the unity of the spouses and 2) Procreation of children. When we separate one of these ends from the other, we arrive at an abuse of the marital act.
Pope Paul VI states in his Encyclical Humanae Vitae, "This particular doctrine, often expounded by the Magisterium of the Church, is based on the inseparable connection, established by God, which man on his own initiative may not break, between the unitive significance and the procreative significance which are both inherent to the marriage act."
Contraception attempts to remove the procreative end from the marital act. It promotes selfishness in each of the partners because it allows them to express the unitive end of the act without the acceptance of the new life that could result from the act. Some may ask, "Why is this a problem?”
The answer is that we can see in the Natural Law that the act of sexual relations is ordered to the transmission of life. This is something that cannot be set aside. Therefore, through contraception we mutilate the beautiful significance of marital love and use it for the mere pleasure it affords us. Even if our intentions are somewhat higher, and we intend to truly express our love for the partner, we are violating the true meaning of love. The physical expression of love in the marital act is frustrated by using contraception.
The marital act is a statement of our love. When contraception is used, however, the marital act becomes a lie. We are attempting to express our love for the other person, but in physical reality, we are withholding the full expression of the love. We are saying through our actions, "I love you, but not enough to bring about life with you." By using contraception we are denying the meaning of marriage and the meaning of love.
It is no wonder, then to see that contraception leads to divorce. How long can a couple live in a lie? The act of contraception is as much a lie as infidelity. Certainly a healthy marriage can not survive if there are lies or half-truths in it.
Let us always seek to glorify God in our thoughts, words, and deeds. Let us seek to end the use of contraception. Let us truly express our love to our spouse without the lies imposed by the use of artificial contraception.
For more reading on this subject, the following sources are helpful:
Humanae Vitae
Casti Connubii
Love and Responsibility
Theology of the Body
