Class will NOT be meeting next Sunday.
Our next class date is Sunday, Mar 3.
Last time, we studied TOB for Teens, Chapter 8: Marriage. This chapter draws together the threads of several previous chapters. We also spent some focused time the qualities that one would desire in a marriage or spouse, and then discussing the history contraception and addressing a couple of questions on that topic.
Key points on marriage:
- In marriage, husband and wife have complementary roles, expressing the love of God in a tangible way.
- In particular, the love of a husband for his wife is called to reflect the love of Christ for the Church.
- The sacrament of marriage is an earthly foreshadowing of the "wedding feast" of heaven.
- God established marriage and is the source of its holiness.
- Like all the sacraments, Christian marriage is a source of grace which helps husbands and wives love their spouses, through good times and bad, with a God-like (FTFF) love.
- Marriage is the "primordial sacrament" -- the original revelation of God's love in the world.
- Successful marriages are built not on marrying the perfect person but upon loving the imperfect person that one has chosen to marry.
- Marriage is the building block of society because the family is the first community.
- The qualities that one would desire in a spouse or marriage are great qualities to work on in oneself.
- If we become the kind of person we would choose, we actually draw like-minded persons to ourselves in friendship.
- Wanting a potential spouse to be attractive is fine (our attraction to beauty is rooted in our attraction to ultimate Beauty in God), though it shouldn't be the be-all and end-all. :-)
Key points on contraception:
- Contraception is not a recent invention:
- Ancient peoples used a variety of methods to try to prevent conception or birth.
- Romans at the time of Christ practiced contraception, but Christians rejected it.
- The first Protestants rejected the practice as well, as did all Christians until 1930.
- Many non-Christian leaders, including Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi opposed contraception as well.
Pope Paul VI, in his encyclical Humanae Vitae, predicted several negative outcomes should contraception become widely used in a culture. All his predictions have come true.
Not only is contraception opposed to the FTFF love that spouses are called to, but "the pill" and similar methods have significant and sometimes serious side-effects. Some women have even died as a result of using them.
NFP is radically different from contraception, as radically as bulimia is different from dieting. Check the link for more.
Quotes to ponder:
“The person who does not decide to love forever will find it very difficult to really love for even one day.” ~ Pope St. John Paul II
“There is no relationship between human beings so close as that of husband and wife, if they are united as they ought to be.” ~ St. John Chrysostom
" As the family goes, so goes the nation, and so goes the whole world in which we live." ~ Pope St. John Paul II
At home assignment:
- Challenge: choose one item from your list (p 120) and begin to work on it. If you ran out of time to complete it in class, then do that first. :-)
- Read and discuss “Science and the Theology of the Body” on p. 122, and “Live it Out: Training for Marriage” on p. 123.
If you missed missed class or want to review:
Read TOB for Teens, Chapter 8, pages 111-119, and complete the exercise at the top of p. 120. Next, read through the Digging Deeper section for some history on the use of contraceptives. Also see the assignment above.
Future classes:
March 2019
03 - Answering Challenges: Redefining Marriage plus the Gender Agenda
17 - TOB Chapter 9: Celibacy & Religious Life
31 - TOB Chapter 10: Finding Your Vocation
(Full schedule is at the blog, of course.)
Blessings,
Suchi / Mrs. Myjak