Make sure you read these passages from Amoris Laetitia, too

It will come as no surprise to anyone who followed the 2014 and 2015 synods that, out of the more than 200 pages of Pope Francis’ post-synodal apostolic exhortation, it has been a few pages of one section—really, a few sentences from a few pages of one section—that have garnered far and away the most attention. The passages dealing with pastoral approaches to those in “irregular” relationships will be dissected and analyzed at length (and hopefully in-depth) by reporters and commentators in the coming days and weeks. It’s entirely possible that those passages from Amoris Laetitia will be the only ones many Catholics ever read.

That’s a shame, because the document includes many moving and profound reflections on marriage and family life and the contemporary challenges they face, reflections that are rooted in Scripture and presented in the context of the rich body of Church teaching on these subjects, including St. John Paul II’s Theology of the Body.

So here are some passages from the exhortation that you’ll want to be sure you don’t overlook amid the furor.

On reproductive technology:

56. On the other hand, “the techno­logical revolution in the field of human procrea­tion has introduced the ability to manipulate the reproductive act, making it independent of the sexual relationship between a man and a wom­an. In this way, human life and parenthood have become modular and separable realities, subject mainly to the wishes of individuals or couples”. It is one thing to be understanding of human weakness and the complexities of life, and an­other to accept ideologies that attempt to sun­der what are inseparable aspects of reality. Let us not fall into the sin of trying to replace the Creator. We are creatures, and not omnipotent. Creation is prior to us and must be received as a gift.

On openness to life:

80. Marriage is firstly an “intimate partner­ship of life and love” which is a good for the spouses themselves, while sexuality is “ordered to the conjugal love of man and woman”. It follows that “spouses to whom God has not granted children can have a conjugal life full of meaning, in both human and Christian terms”. Nonetheless, the conjugal union is ordered to procreation “by its very nature”. The child who is born “does not come from outside as something added on to the mutual love of the spouses, but springs from the very heart of that mutual giving, as its fruit and fulfilment”. He or she does not appear at the end of a process, but is present from the beginning of love as an essential feature, one that cannot be denied without disfiguring that love itself. From the outset, love refuses every impulse to close in on itself; it is open to a fruitfulness that draws it beyond itself. Hence no genital act of husband and wife can refuse this meaning, even when for various reasons it may not always in fact be­get a new life.

81. A child deserves to be born of that love, and not by any other means, for “he or she is not something owed to one, but is a gift”, which is “the fruit of the specific act of the conjugal love of the parents”. This is the case because, “according to the order of creation, conjugal love between a man and a woman, and the transmission of life are ordered to each other (cf. Gen 1:27-28). Thus the Creator made man and woman share in the work of his creation and, at the same time, made them instruments of his love, entrusting to them the responsibili­ty for the future of mankind, through the trans­mission of human life”.

82. The Synod Fathers stated that “the growth of a mentality that would reduce the generation of human life to one variable of an individu­al’s or a couple’s plans is clearly evident”. The Church’s teaching is meant to “help couples to experience in a complete, harmonious and con­scious way their communion as husband and wife, together with their responsibility for procreating life. We need to return to the message of the Encyclical Humanae Vitae of Blessed Pope Paul VI, which highlights the need to respect the dig­nity of the person in morally assessing methods of regulating birth…” …

83. Here I feel it urgent to state that, if the family is the sanctuary of life, the place where life is conceived and cared for, it is a horrendous contradiction when it becomes a place where life is rejected and destroyed. So great is the value of a human life, and so inalienable the right to life of an innocent child growing in the mother’s womb, that no alleged right to one’s own body can justify a decision to terminate that life, which is an end in itself and which can never be con­sidered the “property” of another human being. The family protects human life in all its stages, including its last.

On the goodness of sexuality:

150. All this brings us to the sexual dimension of marriage. God himself created sexuality, which is a marvellous gift to his creatures. If this gift needs to be cultivated and directed, it is to prevent the “impoverishment of an authentic value”. Saint John Paul II rejected the claim that the Church’s teaching is “a negation of the value of human sexuality”, or that the Church simply tolerates sexuality “because it is necessary for procreation”. Sexual desire is not some­thing to be looked down upon, and “and there can be no attempt whatsoever to call into ques­tion its necessity”.

151. To those who fear that the training of the passions and of sexuality detracts from the spontaneity of sexual love, Saint John Paul II replied that human persons are “called to full and mature spontaneity in their relationships”, a maturity that “is the gradual fruit of a discern­ment of the impulses of one’s own heart”. This calls for discipline and self-mastery, since every human person “must learn, with perse­verance and consistency, the meaning of his or her body”. Sexuality is not a means of grati­fication or entertainment; it is an interpersonal language wherein the other is taken seriously, in his or her sacred and inviolable dignity. As such, “the human heart comes to participate, so to speak, in another kind of spontaneity”. In this context, the erotic appears as a specifically human manifestation of sexuality. It enables us to discover “the nuptial meaning of the body and the authentic dignity of the gift”. In his catecheses on the theology of the body, Saint John Paul II taught that sexual differentiation not only is “a source of fruitfulness and pro­creation”, but also possesses “the capacity of expressing love: that love precisely in which the human person becomes a gift”. A healthy sexual desire, albeit closely joined to a pursuit of pleasure, always involves a sense of wonder, and for that very reason can humanize the im­pulses.

152. In no way, then, can we consider the erotic dimension of love simply as a permis­sible evil or a burden to be tolerated for the good of the family. Rather, it must be seen as gift from God that enriches the relationship of the spouses. As a passion sublimated by a love respectful of the dignity of the other, it becomes a “pure, unadulterated affirmation” revealing the marvels of which the human heart is capable. In this way, even momentar­ily, we can feel that “life has turned out good and happy”.

On celibacy and the single life:

161. The value of virginity lies in its symboliz­ing a love that has no need to possess the other; in this way it reflects the freedom of the Kingdom of Heaven. Virginity encourages married cou­ples to live their own conjugal love against the backdrop of Christ’s definitive love, journeying together towards the fullness of the Kingdom. For its part, conjugal love symbolizes other val­ues. On the one hand, it is a particular reflec­tion of that full unity in distinction found in the Trinity. The family is also a sign of Christ. It manifests the closeness of God who is a part of every human life, since he became one with us through his incarnation, death and resurrection. Each spouse becomes “one flesh” with the oth­er as a sign of willingness to share everything with him or her until death. Whereas virginity is an “eschatological” sign of the risen Christ, marriage is a “historical” sign for us living in this world, a sign of the earthly Christ who chose to become one with us and gave himself up for us even to shedding his blood. Virginity and mar­riage are, and must be, different ways of loving. For “man cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him”.

162. Celibacy can risk becoming a comfortable single life that provides the freedom to be inde­pendent, to move from one residence, work or option to another, to spend money as one sees fit and to spend time with others as one wants. In such cases, the witness of married people be­comes especially eloquent. Those called to vir­ginity can encounter in some marriages a clear sign of God’s generous and steadfast fideli­ty to his covenant, and this can move them to a more concrete and generous availability to oth­ers.

On welcoming children, even when the timing isn’t “right”:

170. Some parents feel that their child is not coming at the best time. They should ask the Lord to heal and strengthen them to accept their child fully and wholeheart­edly. It is important for that child to feel wanted. He or she is not an accessory or a solution to some personal need. A child is a human being of immense worth and may never be used for one’s own benefit. So it matters little whether this new life is convenient for you, whether it has features that please you, or whether it fits into your plans and aspirations. For “children are a gift. Each one is unique and irreplaceable… We love our children because they are children, not because they are beautiful, or look or think as we do, or embody our dreams. We love them because they are children. A child is a child”. The love of parents is the means by which God our Father shows his own love. He awaits the birth of each child, accepts that child unconditionally, and wel­comes him or her freely.

On infertility and adoption:

178. Some couples are unable to have chil­dren. We know that this can be a cause of real suffering for them. At the same time, we know that “marriage was not instituted solely for the procreation of children… Even in cases where, despite the intense desire of the spouses, there are no children, marriage still retains its character of being a whole manner and communion of life, and preserves its value and indissolubility”. So too, “motherhood is not a solely biological reali­ty, but is expressed in diverse ways”.

179. Adoption is a very generous way to be­come parents. I encourage those who cannot have children to expand their marital love to embrace those who lack a proper family situa­tion. They will never regret having been gener­ous. Adopting a child is an act of love, offering the gift of a family to someone who has none. It is important to insist that legislation help facili­tate the adoption process, above all in the case of unwanted children, in order to prevent their abortion or abandonment. Those who accept the challenge of adopting and accepting some­one unconditionally and gratuitously become channels of God’s love. For he says, “Even if your mother forgets you, I will not forget you” (Is 49:15).

On the importance of thorough marriage preparation:

[208] … Learning to love someone does not happen automatically, nor can it be taught in a workshop just prior to the cele­bration of marriage. For every couple, marriage preparation begins at birth. What they received from their family should prepare them to know themselves and to make a full and definitive commitment. Those best prepared for marriage are probably those who learned what Christian marriage is from their own parents, who chose each other unconditionally and daily renew this decision. In this sense, pastoral initiatives aimed at helping married couples to grow in love and in the Gospel of the family also help their children, by preparing them for their future married life. …

209. The timely preparation of engaged cou­ples by the parish community should also assist them to recognize eventual problems and risks. In this way, they can come to realize the wisdom of breaking off a relationship whose failure and painful aftermath can be foreseen. In their ini­tial enchantment with one another, couples can attempt to conceal or relativize certain things and to avoid disagreements; only later do problems surface. For this reason, they should be strongly encouraged to discuss what each expects from marriage, what they understand by love and com­mitment, what each wants from the other and what kind of life they would like to build together. Such discussions would help them to see if they in fact have little in common and to realize that mutual attraction alone will not suffice to keep them together. Nothing is more volatile, precar­ious and unpredictable than desire. The deci­sion to marry should never be encouraged unless the couple has discerned deeper reasons that will ensure a genuine and stable commitment.

210. In any event, if one partner clearly rec­ognizes the other’s weak points, he or she needs to have a realistic trust in the possibility of help­ing to develop the good points that counterbal­ance them, and in this way to foster their human growth. This entails a willingness to face even­tual sacrifices, problems and situations of con­flict; it demands a firm resolve to be ready for this. Couples need to be able to detect danger signals in their relationship and to find, before the wedding, effective ways of responding to them. Sadly, many couples marry without really knowing one another. They have enjoyed each other’s company and done things together, but without facing the challenge of revealing them­selves and coming to know who the other person truly is.

On marriage as “a lifelong project”:

218. Another great challenge of marriage preparation is to help couples realize that mar­riage is not something that happens once for all. Their union is real and irrevocable, confirmed and consecrated by the sacrament of matrimony. Yet in joining their lives, the spouses assume an active and creative role in a lifelong project. Their gaze now has to be directed to the future that, with the help of God’s grace, they are daily called to build. For this very reason, neither spouse can expect the other to be perfect. Each must set aside all illusions and accept the other as he or she actu­ally is: an unfinished product, needing to grow, a work in progress. A persistently critical attitude towards one’s partner is a sign that marriage was not entered into as a project to be worked on together, with patience, understanding, tolerance and generosity. Slowly but surely, love will then give way to constant questioning and criticism, dwelling on each other’s good and bad points, issuing ultimatums and engaging in competition and self-justification. The couple then prove in­capable of helping one another to build a mature union. This fact needs to be realistically present­ed to newly married couples from the outset, so that they can grasp that the wedding is “just the beginning”. By saying “I do”, they embark on a journey that requires them to overcome all obstacles standing in the way of their reaching the goal. The nuptial blessing that they receive is a grace and an incentive for this journey.

·         Further reading – Amoris Laetitia: A CWR Symposium