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God has bestowed upon us the dignity to participate in the creation of life By Brian Pizzalato Married couples are called by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit to image the life-giving, self-giving love of the Trinity. Married couples are also called to imagethe relationship between Christ and the church. Christ gave completely ofhimself, even to death on the cross, for his bride, the church. I have writtenmore about this glorious mystery in two previous columns. This paves the wayfor what naturally and supernaturally follows: the married couples task to servelife. There are two ways this takes place: through the transmission of life,procreation, and through education. In this column we will focus on the former,and in the next column on the latter. The fundamental task of the family is to serve life, to actualize in history theoriginal blessing of the Creator that of transmitting by procreation the divineimage from person to person (John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio #28). Thespousal union is ordered to the begetting of new human life. Spouses are calledto imitate the Trinity and Christs relationship with the church every moment ofevery day, but in particular during the marital embrace. In marriage, the two,husband and wife, become one flesh, so much so that nine months later you willhave to give him or her a name, thus becoming three in one. God has bestowed upon man and woman such a dignity that we can participatein the very creation of a new human person, becoming co-creators with God. Atthe moment of conception, husband and wife have provided God with theopportunity to infuse a new soul into the body they have given to this newhuman person through their love. All of this has its consequences, which cannot be changed. Many people havea problem with the churchs teaching on contraception as intrinsically evil. In ourday, where contraception seems to be perfectly acceptable, and perhaps theresponsible thing to do, having a problem with it is somewhat understandable.But, why is it that our society thinks that it knows better than Christ and hischurch? Why is it that some Catholics think they know better than Christ and hischurch? Maybe we have it wrong and Christ and his church have it right. Maybethe media, the government, the public school system, MTV and our consciencehave it wrong. To understand this teaching, it must be placed in context, not as one teachingisolated from everything else. The Trinitarian plan from all eternity is that wemight share in his life, which is love itself. God the Father wanted this so badlythat after Adam and Eve rejected him, he sent his only Son to give completely ofhimself through the Paschal Mystery: the passion, death, resurrection andascension of Christ. The Second Person of the Trinity emptied himself, takingthe form of a servant. He went through a humiliating trial, torture and finallydeath by crucifixion. His self-emptying went beyond death when his side waspierced by a lance, issuing forth blood and water. Upon his ascension back tothe Father, the Trinity poured forth his life upon the church by sending the HolySpirit. The eternal life of the Trinity and the life of God the Son while here on earthwas one of complete and total self-giving, life-giving love. This is not what, butwho, spouses are called to image. What about contraception? We can understand from what God has revealed

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that contracepted sex is neither self-giving nor life-giving. It is selfish andbarren. In many instances it is death-giving, since many contraceptives do notprevent conception but kill the child after conception. It in no way imagesTrinitarian life and Christs self sacrifice for his bride. It completely falsifies both. Authentic married love is meant to be caught up in the mystery of divine life andlove. A total gift of self is required: body, mind, heart and soul. Anything elsewould be a lie. Many say that sex is good, or even great, but Christ and thechurch proclaim that it is holy. And to treat something holy as though it is merelygood or great is to desecrate that which is holy. The supreme gift of marriage is a human person, a child. No one has a right tohave a child. The child is a pure gift from our Father in heaven. And the child iscertainly not a choice. Abortion is death-dealing plain and simple. A humanperson dies. It is also selfish. As Blessed Mother Teresa once said, It is ashame that a child must die so that we might live as we wish. May the most Blessed Trinity move our hearts and minds to accept his words,and heal all those who have used contraception and have had abortions. Mayall those babies who did not survive the holocaust of abortion (47,282,293 inthe United States since 1973 at the time of this writing and one every 25seconds after that) offer up their prayers before the throne of our heavenlyFather. May the myriad of angels and saints pray for all married couples thatthey may be open to new life, a glorious gift from the Trinity. Printed with permission from the Northern Cross, Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota. Brian Pizzalato is the Director of Catechesis, R.C.I.A. & Lay Apostolate for theDiocese of Duluth. He is also a faculty member of the Theology and Philosophydepartments of the Maryvale Institute, Birmingham, England. He writes amonthly catechetical article for The Northern Cross, of the Diocese of Duluth,and is a contributing author to the Association for Catechumenal Ministry'sR.C.I.A. Participants Book. Brian is currently authoring the regular series,"Catechesis and Contemporary Culture," in The Sower, published by theMaryvale Institute and is also in the process of writing the Philosophy ofReligion course book for the B.A. in Philosophy and the Catholic Traditionprogram at the Maryvale Institute. Brian holds an M.A. in Theology and Christian Ministry with a Catecheticsspecialization and an M.A. in Philosophy from Franciscan University ofSteubenville, Ohio.

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