Thursday, May 12, 2005

De Coniugio et Eucharistia, Pars II

What is the point in all this? First, our sacrifice ties in with our understanding of why we can't use contraception. It was beautiful that Christ offered Himself completely for us. It was the most beautiful of events. Similarly, it is most beautiful when we don't use contraception. The conjugal union is lacking its full potential when we use contraception. Why wouldn't we want it to be everything that it could? If we really do love the other person, as we often say we do, then we must give ourselves completely to them. Doesn't Christ tell us that there is no greater gift than laying down one's life for the sake of another? This doesn't just mean martyrdom. This means leaving all our wants and desires back for the benefit of another. It means giving all that we have for that other person to help them best achieve their salvation. What is not beautiful about that?

And just as giving one's self completely to another is the greatest gift you can give, it is in giving one's self fully that the gift of new life is given. How amazing is it to think that when we give ourselves to another person fully, that the gift is given not only to them through the unity of one body, but also in giving the gift of life to an entirely new person. Married couples are extremely blessed to be able to cooperate with God to create new life. This is similar to the priest's role in the consecration. By the priest giving himself to the Church, and through his ordination, he is given the authority, passed down from Christ through the Apostles, to transubstantiate bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. The priest brings Christ into this world for us as heaven unites with earth at the moment of the consecration.

Similarly, at the moment of consummation, man and women are given the ability to bring life into this world through a whole new manner. Just as the priest brings Christ to this world, so too do man and woman bring a new person into this world. The gift of life is nothing less than a blessing, and man and woman, being able to cooperate with God, are likewise blessed, just as the priest is blessed, to be able to further the kingdom of God by acting in a manner to be cooperators in the truth.

No comments: