My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, which we celebrated this week, gives us an opportunity to comment on the U.S. Bishops’ statement, “Married Love and the Gift of Life.”  The Immaculate Conception is the doctrine of the Church described in the compendium of the Catholic Catechism as: “God freely chose Mary from all eternity to be the mother of his Son.  In order to carry out her mission she herself was conceived immaculate.  This means that, thanks to the grace of God and in anticipation of the merits of Jesus Christ, Mary was preserved from original sin from the first instant of her conception”  [Par. 96].

Many can become confused about the Immaculate Conception, since it does not describe the virgin birth, which is another article of faith.  It does remind us that life begins at conception and that through the Immaculate Conception we are joined with all humanity for all eternity and in that way we are the heirs of original sin.  The compendium tells us that:  “Original sin, in which all human beings are born, is the state of deprivation of original holiness and justice.  It is a sin ‘contracted’ by us not ‘committed,’ it is a state of birth and not a personal act.  Because of the original unity of all human beings, it is transmitted to the descendants of Adam ‘not by imitation, but by propagation.’  This transmission remains a mystery which we cannot fully understand”  [Par. 76].

Somehow, human nature does not tend toward good, but rather to what seems to be good, and very often it is evil itself.  Mary’s Immaculate Conception reminds us that one human being, preserved from original sin in anticipation of her mission to be the mother of God, becomes the model of all Christians. We strive to imitate her innocence.  If we cannot imitate her innocence, we ask for her intercession to obtain for us forgiveness of our sins.

In his first encyclical, “God Is Love,” our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, begins his discussion about God’s love by distinguishing between “eros” and “agape.”  It is a fundamental misunderstanding on the part of many that somehow the Church has misunderstood sexuality and the human body and its capacity for love and procreation.  Benedict says:  “The love between man and woman which is neither planned nor willed, but somehow imposes itself upon human beings, was called eros by the ancient Greeks”  [Par. 3].

Unfortunately, today many believe that the love of man and woman somehow is imposed and not a gift; a gift that is friendship in its highest form is agape, a selfless love which expresses our relationship between God and ourselves and each other.  The Holy Father answers the question that if Christianity destroyed eros, that the apparent disdain for married love would somehow corrupt the true understanding of human nature.  He goes on to describe the true relationship between human beings as reflected in our relationship to God.  If God is love, then we too must express among ourselves a love which is not eros, but agape.

Later on in the discussion he says:  “Eros, reduced to pure sex, has become a commodity, a mere thing to be bought and sold, or rather, man himself becomes a commodity.  This is hardly man’s great yes to the body.  On the contrary, he now considers his body and his sexuality as the purely material part of him, to be used and exploited at will.  Nor does he see it as an arena for the exercise of his freedom, but as a mere object that he attempts, as he pleases, to make both enjoyable and harmless”  [Par. 4].

For this reason, it is in an effort to explain the Church’s teaching that the Bishops of the U.S. have issued a pastoral letter “Married Love and the Gift of Life.”  How frequently we hear the accusation against the Church’s teaching on married love as completely unrealistic and unattainable, but it is really misunderstood, and not adequately explained.  In all sincerity and with deepest respect for married love, the Bishops of the U.S. have tried to explain it in greater detail and with a reflection upon our modern culture, married love and its relationship to the gift of life.  The pastoral letter can be found in this week’s Tablet.  I recommend it to you for your reading, but some comments might assist you in understanding better what the Bishops have said.

The pastoral letter is intended to help Catholics understand God’s plan for married life, and clarify why the Church cannot condone contraception.  From the initial issuance of the encyclical of Pope Paul VI, “Humanae Vitae,” the misunderstanding of the Church on this important teaching regarding marriage has stirred controversy.  There are many who would have advised the Bishops not to speak about this matter and that the Church really has nothing to say in modern culture about the regulation of birth.  By an absolute majority, however, the Bishops of the U.S. chose to issue this document, pastoral in tone yet clear in its direction and teaching on the sacredness of married life and the responsibility of married couples to respect their marriage commitment to love one another and to be open to conception and new life.  Each question of the document gives deeper understanding of what the Church teaches.  Married love does have something to do with the openness to life and the use of artificial contraception frustrates an intimate relationship between married love and life itself.

If in any of its teachings the Church is countercultural, it is in this assertion that the act of intercourse is sacred and must be open to the possibility of life.  This is not to say, however, that couples may not regulate the size of their families or even postpone having children for legitimate reasons.  The document goes on to explain what Natural Family Planning is and why it is not Catholic contraception.  In our own Diocese, we have an extensive program of supporting couples that wish to learn natural family planning and use its various methods to open their marriages to greater love and respect for life. 

Each year over 150 engaged couples receive training regarding the meaning and proper use of natural family planning as part of their individual parish’s Pre-Cana program. All couples that attend our Diocesan Pre-Cana program also receive a basic instruction regarding Natural Family Planning. Those with access to the Internet can obtain additional information both at our Diocesan Pre-Cana Web site (www.pre-cana.org) and at the USCCB Web site (www.usccb.org/prolife/issues/nfp). Finally, Deacon Elias Yepes, who serves as our Diocesan Coordinator for Natural Family Planning, is available to assist any parish or cluster that wishes to provide instruction to its engaged or married couples about the meaning and methods of natural family planning.

Although many might perceive that the Church is out of touch with the reality of married life today, the Bishops’ statement stands as an encouragement to the true understanding of married love.  In the encyclical of Paul VI, “Humanae Vitae,” his pastoral aspect of understanding the human condition is rather clear.  The connection between trying to live a married life open to life and possible failure is summed in paragraph 25 from “Humanae Vitae.” 

Let married couples, then, face up to the efforts needed, supported by the faith and hope which “do not disappoint … because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us; let them implore divine assistance by persevering prayer; above all, let them draw from the source of grace and charity in the Eucharist.  And if sin should still keep its hold over them, let them not be discouraged, but rather have recourse with humble perseverance to the mercy of God, which is poured forth in the sacrament of Penance.  In this way they will be enabled to achieve the fullness of conjugal life described by the Apostle:  “husbands love your wives, as Christ loved the Church … husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.  He who loves his wife loves himself.  For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ does the Church … this is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the Church.  However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.” 

I believe the Bishops of the U.S. truly put out into the deep in completely reaffirming the Church’s teaching on artificial contraception.  We as Church and Diocese, however, need to redouble our efforts to assist couples in understanding this teaching and of finding alternate means of family planning that does not frustrate the principal aim of marriage.  Pray with me as we celebrate the Feast of Mary’s Immaculate Conception that we will come to a better understanding of human life from its conception to natural death. 

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.