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The family is the foundation of society. A society is as healthy or sick as its families – not its government, military, businesses, schools or legal system. Any society that hasn’t made the nurturing and developing of its families a priority is a failure. The international disintegration of family life is the global crisis of our time.
The objective purpose of marriage and family life is:
- the development of genuine love among a community of persons
- the positive development of children
- participation in the development of society
- sharing in the life and mission of the church
A comprehensive, in-depth, practical and beautiful exploration of marriage can be found in Pope John Paul’s "The Christian Family in the Modern World." There he describes how marriage is a sacrament, i.e. it provides the couple with a continuous supply of divine energy -- grace -- to live their lives with an ever greater sacrificial giving of themselves as free gifts to each other. This is a major source of deep fulfillment, identity and meaning.
Marriage is by definition composed of fidelity, perseverance, exclusivity and openness to children through the generous use of natural family planning. The unique relationship between husband and wife is a special and intimate friendship which symbolizes the relationship of the Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, with his beloved Bride, the Church, with whom he has established, not a contract that can be broken, but a covenant which He will keep forever – "for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, in good times and bad."
The flourishing of a deep erotic relationship within the context of this mutual sacrifical self-giving is not only desired by God, but a primary source of grace and spiritual development for the spouses. A profound, revolutionary and poignantly beautiful exploration of marital sexuality was expressed by Pope John Paul II in "Love and Responsibility," and in "The Theology of the Body." Any accusations that Catholic theology regarding sexuality is repressive, rigid, puritanical, or unrealistic will wither upon reading these works.
The clear, direct connection between…
• the present 60% divorce rate
• the epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases
• incest
• rape
• the pornographic degradation of women
• obsessive addiction to internet sex
• sexual boredom in marriage
• contraception-related physical illnesses
• post-abortion trauma
• the mistrust of love between the sexes
… are absolutely related to the fact that most people have not learned, and become supported, in the true and beautiful message of a loving Jesus through his representative on earth – Pope John Paul II. The witness of millions of happy, long-term married Catholic couples, the fact of a mere 5% divorce rate among couples using natural fertility regulation, the overwhelming secular, scientific research that the most genuinely religiously committed are psychologically and physically healthier, have higher self-esteem and are happiest, is excluded from the media, educational systems and numerous churches. |
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