The purpose of Families – the Dignity of Life

by Frank Muller

One of the most important teachings of the Church is the sanctity and dignity of life and the purpose of marriage (and conjugal relations).

However, this teaching can also be arrived at by reason and an anthropological study of human development and flourishing.

Why then this modern attack on the sanctity of life, the purpose of procreation, and the meaning of our existence?

Of the many reasons, one stands out as a significant causal factor. Since the advent of modern birth control and the “freedom” it gave men and women who could then without consequences redefine life, marriage and sex and thus the erosion of Truth has been profound.

The pursuit of sexual pleasure became an end unto itself. That is, sex without consequences or inconveniences, namely a baby. This redefinition of the martial act into a self-centered desire for pleasure alone as the end set aside the biological end of creating a life and as a result satisfies end of preventing or worse yet terminating an innocent life.

Thus, our impulses become our driver, and our reason became its’ slave. Once the most intimate thing in human existence could be reduced to a carnal desire alone as the end, the rupture between reason and Truth became acute. People now think that they can have their cake, eat it too, without any consequences whatsoever. Hmmm.

Since then, the breakdown of families – the rise in crime – the rise in substance abuse – the rise in suicides – the rise of partisanship and factions, the loss of civil discourse …. This is not to suggest in any way that these things did not exist before, but those sins lurked in the dark, now they parade in the open and become accepted as a good.

This is a sensitive and emotional topic even for Christians as most Christians now practice contraception and thus the hypocrisy of condemning abortion yet practicing contraception creates a moral and spiritual conundrum.

Even if Roe v Wade is turned over, Christians fail to realize that in that there is still no victory. Contraception will continue for the pleasure it brings. The day after pill will simply go black market just like every other illegal drug, and the issue will simply become a case of selective enforcement depending upon political expediency.

So, the real choice is taking control and responsibility for our procreative actions in alignment with anthropological truths and the right ordering of nature in our lives. In other words, the real fix to any individual or societal problem is almost always a moral one.

Within the confines of marriage, couples can take control of their bodies with good planning. See link below. Is it perfect? Of course not, but it is highly effective if practiced with intentionality.

Further, one can easily find the overwhelming medical evidence of the consequence of certain contraceptive practices on the long-term health of our women. Cancer and other issues once again can be traced back as a causal factor behind so many feminine health concerns.

We can simply abstain and gain control of our impulses. We are not animals, and our passions can be controlled by our will. This discipline in restraining our impulses carries over to a whole host of benefits like controlling spending, restraining our temper, moderating our language and tone, eschewing programming that is seeking to exploit our passions for profit. On and on, we know from our reason that our growth in virtue is directly related to denying ourselves the pleasures of vices and wrongs.

Human beings grow in maturity to the extent that they learn to control their passions and grow in virtue. We see this process in how children are raised, and it is clear that children who are taught (and more importantly observe) this denial of errant passions and this embrace of virtue and Truth grow in stature and lasting happiness including living longer.

Natural Womanhood: Get to know & love your body with fertility awareness

As people seeking the Truth about all things in life and as people called to seek the good of others, I encourage you to review this website above with an open mind.

In particular draw your attention to the “Learn” tab and go through each of the sections.

Then, thoughtfully pray and consider over this.

If the time is right and this subject can be lovingly presented (without harshness or condemnation) send this to our young men and women so that they can have an opportunity to learn this information and to prayerfully consider as well.

The soul of a society is the family and how this family is ordered in terms of Faith, Morals and Truth (both revealed by our Creator and by our ability to Reason) determines our real “freedom” and joy.

Peace be with us all.