Now I Get It

As I've said before, my understanding of Catholic doctrine is always evolving. Probably the hottest topic of all--birth control--has taken me a long time to get. Even after "getting it," sometimes I forget. Not as in, I forget to obey it (!) but as in, I forget how to explain it.

Today at our Bishop's annual picnic, our wonderful Bishop gave a great talk about this very subject (among other things). Although I doubt I can even do it justice, I wanted to try to share some of his explanation of Church teaching on this hot (steamy!) topic.

(A quick disclaimer for those of you who were actually at the picnic with me: Please don't laugh!) :)

I think most readers of this blog would generally agree that God created the world (in six days, or otherwise). And that He's the mastermind behind humanity, too, having also created Adam and Eve. (Are you with me so far?) And in His plan for Adam and Eve and humanity, He conceived (so to speak!) of the whole process by which the human race would, well, go forth and multiply. In other words, God, being the author of life, planned that His people would be not only His created beings, but actually become co-creators along with Him. And of course, the way that we would do this is by the, uh, marital embrace.

When we participate in the marital embrace, then, we have the amazing, incredible privilege of sharing with God in His eternal creation. We are even--if you think about two people becoming one and then (nine months later) becoming three--imaging the Holy Trinity. Sex is, then, a truly sacred, holy, awesome gift from God. (Kind of puts "hooking up" into a whole new perspective, no?)

So God has given us the privilege of participating in His creation. But He's still the one doing the creating. Without Him, the miracle of igniting a human soul can't happen. But by using artificial birth control, we are taking matters into our own hands. We're excluding Him from the very thing that He created. And that's why contraception is considered sin. Sex that is not open to the possibility of new life isn't really sex as God intended it. It is, I suppose, a perversion of His plan. And as the Bishop pointed out, it's no use waiting for the next Pope, or the next--this matter is not subject to the Church's authority. Only God's, and He's not likely to change His mind about something as important as how people are made!

The Church never claims that this teaching is easy. As the Bishop reminded us, that's why She offers us the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the opportunity for prayer and Eucharistic Adoration. So we can have the wisdom to discern God's will for our family, and the self-control (one of the fruits of the Spirit, right?) to follow His will.

And all that time I just thought the Catholic Church was just trying to make us have more Catholics!