Prayer, Penance and the Eucharist are the Principal Sources of Spirituality for Married Couples
1. Referring to the doctrine contained in the Encyclical "Humanae vitae", we will try to further outline the spiritual life of married couples.
Here are the great words of this encyclical: "While the Church does indeed hand on to her children the inviolable conditions laid down by God's law, she is also the herald of salvation and through the sacraments she flings wide open the channels of grace through which man is made a new creature responding in charity and true freedom to the design of his Creator and Savior, experiencing too the sweetness of the yoke of Christ.
"In humble obedience then to her voice, let Christian husbands and wives be mindful of their vocation to the Christian life, a vocation which, deriving from their Baptism, has been confirmed anew and made more explicit by the Sacrament of Matrimony. For by this sacrament they are strengthened and, one might also say, consecrated to the faithful fulfillment of their duties; to realizing to the full their vocation; and to bearing witness as becomes them, to Christ before the world. For the Lord has entrusted to them the task of making visible to men and women the holiness, and the joy too, of the law which unites inseparably their love for one another and the cooperation they give to God's love, God who is the Author of human life" (HV 25).
Morally Evil Act
2. By showing the moral evil of the contraceptive act and by outlining at the same time a possibly integral framework for the "honest" practice of fertility regulation, that is, of responsible fatherhood and motherhood, the Encyclical "Humanae vitae" creates the premises that allow us to draw the great lines of the Christian spirituality of the conjugal vocation and life, and likewise the spirituality of parents and of the family.
It can further be said that the encyclical presupposes the entire tradition of this spirituality, which is rooted in biblical sources, already previously analyzed, by offering the opportunity to reflect on them anew and to build an adequate synthesis.
It is well to recall here what was said about the organic relationship between the theology of the body and the pedagogy of the body. This "theology-pedagogy," in fact, already constitutes "per se" the essential nucleus of conjugal spirituality. And this is indicated also by the above-quoted sentences from the encyclical.
Integral Intention
3. Anyone would certainly read and interpret the Encyclical "Humanae vitae" erroneously who would see in it only the reduction of "responsible fatherhood and motherhood" to mere "biological rhythm of fertility." The author of the encyclical energetically disapproves of and contradicts any form of reductive interpretation (and in such a "partial" sense), and insistently reproposes the integral intention. Responsible fatherhood and motherhood, understood integrally, is none other than an important element of all conjugal and family spirituality, that is, of that vocation about which the cited text of "Humanae vitae" speaks when it states that the married couple must "realize to the full their vocation" (HV 25). It is the Sacrament of Marriage that strengthens them and, one would say, consecrates them to its fulfillment (cf. HV 25).
In the light of the doctrine expressed in the encyclical, it is well to become more aware of that "strengthening power" that is united to the "sui generis consecration" of the Sacrament of Marriage.
Since the analysis of the ethical problem of Paul VI's document was centered above all on the exactness of the "respective norm", the sketch of conjugal spirituality which is found there intends to place in relief precisely those "powers" which make possible the authentic Christian witness of married life.
Difficulties Present
4. "We have no wish at all to pass over in silence the difficulties, at times very great, which beset the lives of Christian married couples. For them, as indeed for every one of us, 'the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life' (cf. Mt 7:14). Nevertheless, it is precisely the hope of that life which, like a brightly burning torch, lights up their journey, as, strong in spirit, they strive to live 'sober, upright, and godly lives in this w orld' (cf. Tit 2:12) knowing for sure that 'the form of this world is passing away' (cf. 1 Cor 7:31)" (HV 25).
In the encyclical, the view of married life is at every step marked by Christian realism, and it is precisely this which helps more greatly to acquire those "powers" which allow the formation of the spirituality of married couples and parents in the spirit of an authentic pedagogy of heart and body.
The very awareness "of that future life" opens up, so to speak, a broad horizon of those powers that must guide them through the hard was deserve thorough examination. If such reflection can lead to recognizing the possibility of improving the present situation, the Holy See declares itself fully available to open a fruitful dialogue to that end, in a spirit of sincerity and openness.
From the Vatican, September 1, 1980.
This item 5540 digitally provided courtesy of CatholicCulture.org
