God’s Plan

I have been thinking about this brief statement for a long, long time in view of the tragic turn our culture has taken over the last several decades.

Briefly stated: Our Gracious Father has made it clear through Scripture and through His Son and the Church how to conduct our earthly lives. This pathway allows us to not only lead a less turbulent, confident life with an internal joyfulness that the world can neither understand nor mimic, but it also assures us of an eternal future with Him.

One clear code of conduct from His teaching is simply stated as this: The pleasurableness of sex (so-called venereal pleasure) is to be reserved for unimpeded, free, and open marital intercourse. That’s it. Any other sexual behavior is a departure from God’s plan and an aberration.

Several things follow from our adherence to this admonition:

1. If He so wishes we will be “co-creators” with Him and be blessed with children. Children mature you. Children teach you about the truth, beauty, and goodness of God in ways you simply cannot fathom unless you have them. Children wrest us from our selfish behavior because as we gain wisdom and confidence as parents ultimately all we want is their happiness and there isn’t any (appropriate) thing we wouldn’t do for them, even at the expense of our own well-being.

2. Every time we experience sexual pleasure with our spouse the pituitary gland releases oxytocin, a potent hormone with too many physiological effects to list here (check out Wikipedia…) other than the most important ones relevant to this discussion. It increases bonding with our spouse (hence Janet Smith’s famous “babies and bonding” mantra about the purpose of sex) along with trust and generosity. And recent studies show that oxytocin release actually effects anatomical changes in the neurons of the brain, i.e., a neurophysiological change underpins our bonding emotion. Now I ask you to pause for a moment and think about the answers to the following questions: What kind of changes are going on in the brain of a person whose source of sexual pleasure is masturbation? Multiple partners? Partners of the same sex? Etc. How is this disordered affection for behavior that departs from God’s plan going to manifest itself in future human connectivity and the ability to form loving and benevolent relationships when there have been anatomical changes in the brain that emphasize love of self rather than selfless love?

God has given us a great gift in the Sacrament of Matrimony and the pleasurableness and fruitfulness of marital intimacy. It is the harbinger and a mere hint of the ecstatic joy we are going to experience with Our Lord for all eternity. So if someone asks you a question about human behavior that in any way differs from God’s plan for the proper expression of sexuality the simple answer that covers it all is “any sexual activity outside of marital intimacy is morally inappropriate”…

One last comment about touching. Physically touching, kissing, and embracing others as manifestation of our filial love and concern for them is a positive good. One contemporary medical reversal is a lack of touching to the detriment of good patient care, whether it is the absence of a good complete physical exam or that of just an empathetic hand on the shoulder or brief hug. Praying with and touching patients is a crucial catalyst for their healing. I hope all those involved in any aspect of the medical profession continue to interact with patients this way, especially the most loving and nurturing people in the whole world… our hardworking nurses.

“Blessed are they who have kept the Word with a generous heart and yield a harvest through perseverance.” Hang in there!