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The Theology of the Body in a Nutshell

By Ellen Gable Hrkach

If we look at the four components of God’s love for us (free, total, faithful, fruitful) and compare God’s love to marital love, we can discover how to live the Sacrament of marriage as the ultimate expression of spousal love.

Free: We need to be able love our spouse freely. If we ask for conditions, that’s not love. If we force our spouse to do something, that’s not love. If we cannot say no to our sexual urges, then we are not free.

Total: The love for our spouse must be total. We can’t say, “Well, I’ll give you everything, honey, except for my fertility.” Total means total. (Re: CCC 1643).

Faithful: Obviously, faithfulness means we must only have intercourse with our spouse and no other. But if we want to be truly faithful to our spouse, we must be faithful in word, action and thought.

Fruitful: Marital relations must be fruitful, open to children, each and every time. That doesn’t mean we will conceive (or want to conceive) a child with every marital embrace. It just means we need to be open.

Birth control, in fact, destroys all four of the essential components (free, total, faithful, fruitful). Birth control violates not only God’s plan in fruitfulness, but it also encourages an “I can’t say no” mentality to sex. When an action, device, medication or operation is purposefully used to remove fertility, a couple cannot give themselves totally, no matter how much they love each other. Contraception says, “I give all of myself to my spouse – except my fertility.”

Natural Family Planning allows a couple to love each other as God loves: freely, totally, faithfully and fruitfully. Couples using NFP chart the wife’s cycle and, if avoiding pregnancy, they abstain in the fertile time. If they are planning a pregnancy, they engage in relations during the fertile time. They are not using devices; they are fully giving of themselves and they are open to children with each and every act of marital relations.

NFP allows us to love our spouse as God loves us: freely, with no reservation, faithfully and open to children. Marriage can be a holy vocation when a couple loves as God loves: freely, totally, faithfully and fruitfully.

Want to live the highest expression of your marital love? Use NFP and be open to life.

For more information about the Theology of the Body:
https://thetheologyofthebody.com/

For more information on NFP:
www.ccli.org
www.woomb.org
www.creightonmodel.com

Copyright 2012 Ellen Gable Hrkach

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Read all posts by Ellen Gable Hrkach Filed Under: General, NFP/Chastity

About Ellen Gable Hrkach

Ellen and her husband, James, have been certified NFP teachers for the Couple to Couple League since 1984 and have worked since 1983 in marriage preparation and chastity education. Ellen currently works as marketing director for Live the Fast. Ellen’s also an award-winning, bestselling author (her books have recently topped 610,00 downloads on Kindle). Her newest book is A Subtle Grace, which just hit #1 in Christian Historical Fiction and Christian Romance. Her other books can be found at her Amazon Author Page. She writes frequently for CCL’s Family Foundations magazine, a columnist for CatholicMom.com, a reviewer for CatholicFiction.net and she and her husband create the “Family Life” cartoons. She and her husband own a small Catholic publishing company called Full Quiver Publishing. Her blog is at https://ellengable.wordpress.com. She lives in Pakenham, Ontario Canada with her husband and sons. Contact her at: info@fullquiverpublishing.com

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