To the Lovers About to Make the Leap

Congratulations on your forthcoming launch into the sea of matrimony! There will be lots of troughs and crests in this journey, but your faith-filled partnership is an excellent vessel to transport you to your heavenly destination. Permit me a moment to address a central component of the marriage covenant: Sex. Sex is a special form of communication reserved for the married couple. Marriages thrive on “good” sex. But what is good sex?

Sexual intercourse is God’s blessing to married couples that allows them to physically give themselves to one another. During this special time of intimacy the couple exchanges gifts, the man his sperm and the woman (potentially) her ovum. Non-contraceptive, natural intercourse is a grace-filled event, drawing the couple ever closer together into “oneness” (its unitive aspect) and providing the couple the possibility of partnering with God in the creation of new human life (its procreative aspect). This is good sex, and for the most of us life just doesn’t get any better than this!

St. John Paul II has made it abundantly clear that your enjoyment of sex should occur on two levels. The first level, the pleasure it provides, goes without saying. The second level, its “implied promise”, may not be so obvious. God is using marital intercourse to beckon us to Him. The ecstasy and joy you will have during intercourse is a harbinger of what it will be like to be intimate with God, to be one with Him. This seemingly outrageous statement is the cornerstone of St. John Paul lI’s series of talks collectively entitled The Theology of the Body.

So marital sex is just a hint or foretaste or inkling of this heavenly union that awaits us for all eternity! Awesome!

It should be obvious to you, dear couples, why unnatural intercourse is a big, big mistake. To contracept not only interrupts a natural process but it impairs God’s blessing and grace from entering your bedroom. Furthermore, humans that we are, “sex on demand” becomes tedious and boring over time since it lacks meaning, lacks the gift exchange that you declare you will honor at the time of your wedding vows. Have you seen the button “I’m worth waiting for” that is used to promote teen chastity? This could very well be worn for life. Isn’t your spouse always worth waiting for? Don’t you have enough character, self-control, and respect for your lover to abstain for a few days per month should you need to use natural family planning for a time to delay children?

God never gives us a problem without its solution. The answer to responsible parenthood and an ever graced, happy, joyful marriage is natural family planning. Learn it! Use it for life! God Bless you.