With tomorrow being the start of the
USCCB's annual Natural Family Planning Awareness (NFP) Week (July 20 - July 26, 2014), there is an especially timely
teachable moment for the great news of Natural Family Planning - a pro life / pro marriage
alternative to the death-dealing poisons of the Culture of Death.
"This week
highlights the promotion of NFP and the Church’s teachings on human
sexuality, married love and responsible parenthood. These dates
correspond with the anniversary of the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae
(July 25), and the feast of Saints Joachim and Anne (July 26), the
parents of the Blessed Mother....
"[NFP] is a modern method for couples to monitor their fertility
signs utilizing charts and scientific knowledge. It can help couples
plan their families responsibly in accordance with the truth of how God
has made them.
"The name 'Natural Family Planning' is somewhat of a misnomer because
although it is a natural (i.e., not artificial) way of keeping track of
fertility, it is not always utilized as a method of family planning.
Some choose to use it as a way to be aware of their fertility, for
health reasons or to help in conceiving. This fertility awareness can be
learned through NFP classes, and by charting the wife’s monthly
fertility signs. Fertility awareness/NFP has many benefits, including
understanding one’s body better, not harming one’s body with
contraceptive chemicals, and speaking a 'language of the body' imbued
with love and truth, by not putting artificial barriers between spouses....
"An
especially valuable benefit of NFP is that it can help one grow in
one’s faith. This can happen in many ways. The NFP-practicing couple
understands firsthand the wonder of fertility-the beauty of the wife’s
cycles and that the spouses’ bodies are made for one another, and for
procreation, by God.
"The NFP couple also perceives the importance of sacrificial love and
self-control, since they work in conjunction with the body’s cycles and
practice abstinence when necessary out of love for the other person.
This sets up a pattern of both self-mastery and self-giving love that
overflows into other areas of their lives, which brings them closer to
an understanding of God’s sacrificial love for us.
"Many couples find that learning NFP helps them to appreciate that
fertility and children are gifts from God. By living in accord with
respect for their bodies, and by praying during each cycle for God’s
will with regard to conceiving a child, they foster a willingness to
trust in the Lord’s providence and a respect for the dignity of human
life. They place their fertility in God’s hands, and live each day in
accord with how God has created them. This brings the couple closer to
each other and to God.
"NFP also allows the couple to speak a language of truth and love with
their bodies. The spouses give themselves to each other totally and
without reserve. This 'language of the body' of total self-gift is in
accord with the desires of the human heart to give oneself to another
fully, and to receive another in fullness. It speaks of total
commitment, openness to a future together, and complete acceptance of
the other....
"To learn more about NFP, or to register for an NFP class, call the
Family Life Office...or visit their NFP webpage....
"I encourage you...to learn more about NFP..., and to support the Church’s mission to evangelize
marriage and family" (Justin Cardinal Rigali, 7/22/10).
Resources:
*
Marriage: The Mystery of Faithful Love (Dietrich Von Hildebrand)
*
Casti Connubii (Pope Pius XI)
*
Man and Woman: Love and the Meaning of Intimacy (Dietrich Von Hildebrand)
*
Humanae Vitae (Pope Paul VI)
*
Familiaris Consortio (Saint Pope John Paul II)
*
Theology of the Body (Saint Pope John Paul II (original English translations))
*
Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology Of The Body (Saint Pope John Paul II)
*
Donum Vitae (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith)
*
Charter for Health Care Workers (Pontifical Council for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers)
*
The Truth and Meaning of Human Sexuality (Pontifical Council for the Family)
*
Preparation for the Sacrament of Marriage (Pontifical Council for the Family)
*
What God Has Joined Together (Robert H. Vasoli)
*
The Unexpected Legacy of Divorce: A 25 Year Landmark Study (Wallerstein, Lewis, & Blakeslee)
*
Addresses to the Roman Rota, 1979-2005 (Pope John Paul II)
*
Dignitas Connubii (Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts)
*
The Thrill of the Chaste (Dawn Eden)
*
Dignitas Personae (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith)
*
Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan (USCCB)
*
The NaPro Technology Revolution (Dr. Thomas Hilgers)
*
Addresses to the Roman Rota, 2006-2013 (Pope Benedict XVI)
*
Address to the Roman Rota, 2014 (Pope Francis)
*
Sex, God and Marriage, 3rd ed (Johann Christoph Arnold)
*
Instrumentum Laboris (Synod of Bishops)
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