I. Introduction to the Theology of the Body

At the Wednesday General Audiences, Pope John Paul II presented his

catechesis on the theology of the body as a series of 129 lectures starting on

September 5, 1979 and ending on November 28, 1984. The theology of the body is

John Paul II’s reflections on “human love in the divine plan”. The original title that

was given to John Paul II series of catechesis is Man and Woman He Created Them.

John Paul II describes his work as “reflections on the theology of the body” and titles

his text, Human Love in the Divine Plan with the subtitle The Redemption of the Body

and the Sacramentality of Marriage. In English, the title that is typically used for his

reflections is Theology of the Body.1

John Paul II, in his theology of the body, goes back to the beginning of

creation in the book of Genesis to show that man was made in image of God. As God

made man in his image he gave the body a spousal meaning, so that man and woman

in their masculinity and femininity, can form a communion of persons. When man

and woman form a communion of persons, they become an image of the Trinity and

so fulfill the deepest purpose of their lives. It is important that this spousal meaning

of the body be spoken in truth. At the end of his catechesis, John Paul II practically

applies his theology of the body to explain the sexual morality of the church. He

specifically focuses on how contraception goes against the very nature of the body

and how it strongly opposes the dignity of the person.

II. The Spousal Meaning of the Body

1 Waldstein in Man and Women He Created Them, A Theology of the Body. Boston: Pauline Books & Media, 2006, 4

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John Paul II begins his catechesis on the theology of the body by focusing on a

passage from the Gospel of Matthew.

And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?" He answered, "Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder." They said to him, "Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?" He said to them, "For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so." (Mt 19: 3-8)

In this passage, the Pharisees question Jesus about divorce. Jesus does not respond

to the Pharisees directly on their level but instead Jesus chooses to answer the

Pharisees by appealing “twice to the beginning.”2 The phrase “from the beginning,”

refers to the creation stories in Genesis. In his analysis of Genesis, John Paul II shows

that going back to the beginning of creation when God created man and woman is

important for understanding “God’s original intention for humanity.”3 The creation

accounts in Genesis show that in God’s original plan man was created with dignity

because he was created in the image of God and was created with a spousal meaning

to his body.

a. The dignity of the human person created in the image of God

John Paul II explains that there are two creation accounts in Genesis. These

two accounts reveal essential characteristics of man and woman. In this passage,

Jesus first of all refers to the first account of creation when he says, “have you not

2 John Paul II. Man and Women He Created Them, A Theology of the Body (TOB). Boston: Pauline Books & Media, 2006, 1:2

John Paul II, 1323 Healy, Mary. Men and Women Are From Eden. Cincinnati: Serven Books, 2005, 10

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read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female” (Mt

19:4). The first account of creation, Genesis 1:1-2:4, presents the objective reality of

man. Genesis 1:27 says, “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he

created him; male and female he created them.” This sentence is direct because it

clearly defines man. From the beginning, man and woman are created in the image

of God.4 The second account of creation, further explains the significance of being

created male and female, by focusing on man’s “subjectivity.”5 Through his analysis

of Genesis 2, John Paul II explains that there are three experiences of man: original

solitude, original unity and original nakedness. These experiences are important in

understanding who man is and in understanding man’s dignity.

i. The meaning of original solitude

When man was created, he first experiences original solitude. God made man

from the dust of the earth and he breathed into his nostril “the breath of life and

man became a living being” (Gen 2:7). After the creation of man, the Lord God said,

“it is not good that the man should be alone” and so the Lord God brought all of the

creatures that he created to the man (Gen 2:18-19). However, man could not find a

“helper fit for him” and so he remained alone before God (Gen 2:20). This describes

man’s experience of original solitude. In this solitude, man found himself alone

before God “in search of his own identity.” Through the distinctiveness of his own

body compared to the rest of creation, man gained “self-awareness” as he realized

4 TOB, 2:45 Ibid., 3:1

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that he was unique.6 Through this awareness of his body, he affirmed himself as a

person and began to understand the meaning of his body.7

The second account of creation shows that God gave man the characteristic

of “self-determination,” or free will.8 In the garden of Eden, the Lord God gave man

the commandment that he is not to eat off of the tree of the knowledge of good and

evil. Through this commandment, man has a relationship with God in the form of a

covenant. Man was given free will so that he could choose to love God and be

obedient to him. Unlike any other creature God created, man possesses self-

awareness and “self-determination” and this gives him a “unique, exclusive and

unrepeatable relationship with God himself.”9

ii. The meaning of original unity

John Paul II then reflects on the experience of original unity. In Genesis, when

the Lord God said, “it is not good that the man should be alone,” God introduces his

desire to find someone who is compatible and similar to the man (Gen 2: 18). This

leads to the account of the creation of woman and this is the point where “the

meaning of original solitude enters and becomes part of the meaning of original

unity.”10 In the creation of woman, woman is made from “the same humanity” as the

man because she is formed out of “one of his ribs (Gen 2:21).11 When the man sees

the woman for the first time he immediately proclaims, “this at last is bone of my

bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman” (Gen 2:23). The man “shows

6 Healy, 227 TOB, 5:68 Ibid., 6:19 Ibid., 6:210 Ibid., 8:111 Ibid., 8:4

4

joy and even exultation, for which he had no reason before” because the man has

finally found a partner who is similar to himself.12 The man sees that the woman has

a similar body as his own but her body is also different. Their bodies are

complementary of each other. Therefore, there are two reciprocally complete ways

of “being a body and at the same time of being human” and there are “two

complementary ways of being conscious of the meaning of the body.” 13

The meaning of original unity appears in Genesis 2:24, when “a man leaves

his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh.” It is

clear that original unity is “rooted” in the creation of man made as male and

female.14 The unity of man and woman is fully “realized in the conjugal act.” Conjugal

union is a “powerful bond established by the Creator” through which man and

woman “discover their own humanity.”15 The conjugal act unites man and woman so

intimately that through their bodies they become a “reciprocal self-gift” of persons.

Original solitude, therefore, leads to original unity when man and woman, through

reciprocal gift of self, together become a “communion of persons.” Communion of

persons (communion personarum) means the “existence of the person for the

person” as spouses become a mutual self-gift for the sake of the other.16 This

communion is like the communion of the three persons of the Trinity. This is why

John Paul II says, “man becomes an image of God not so much in the moment of

solitude as in the moment of communion.”17

12 Ibid., 16113 Ibid., 10:114 Ibid., 8:115 Ibid., 10:216 Ibid., 9:217 Ibid., 9:3

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iii. The meaning of original nakedness

The third experience of man before the fall is original nakedness. The

meaning of original nakedness appears in Genesis 2:25, which says, “And the man

and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed.” The word “naked” in the

context of the sentence means the “fullness of consciousness of the meaning of the

body that comes from the typical perception of the senses.”18 This means that man

and woman in the beginning experienced “unveiled communication with one

another.”19 Through their naked bodies, they clearly saw each other in their

“innermost being.” In their masculinity and femininity, through conjugal union they

came to “see and know each with all the peace of the interior gaze.” 20 Man and

woman are at peace as they see each other as they truly are. They give of themselves

and they hold nothing back. As they become a total self-gift, they discover the

meaning of the body in its masculinity and femininity as it relates to the communion

of persons.

iv. The spousal meaning of the body is oriented toward the communion of persons

From this analysis of Genesis, John Paul II says that the human body, in its

masculinity and femininity, has a spousal meaning. This means that the body has

“the power to express love: precisely that love in which the human person becomes

a gift” of self to his beloved. In the beginning, man was aware of the spousal meaning

of the body because there was a deep unity between the body and the soul. The

body was the way in which spouses communicated and expressed their deepest

love. The body had “such a value and such a beauty that it goes beyond the simply

18 Ibid., 12:319 Healy, 2720 TOB, 13:1

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physical level of sexuality.” As man and woman reciprocally made a sincere gift of

self through the body and formed a communion of persons they affirmed each other

as persons created in the image of God.21 This affirmation of each other as individual

persons confirms that man is a “creature that God willed for his own sake.” As man

becomes a self-gift, he fulfills the meaning of his existence because “man cannot fully

find himself except through the gift of self.”22

b. Rediscovering the spousal meaning of the body after man’s fall

Genesis 3:1-6 is the account of man’s fall and this account describes the

effects of sin. In the beginning, God gave man the commandment to not eat off of the

tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, man was tempted by Satan. “When

the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes,

and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate;

and she also gave some to her husband, and he ate” (Gen 3:6). By eating the fruit

from the tree, man and woman disobeyed God. They ate from the tree because they

decided that they wanted to know for themselves what was good and evil. In this

moment, man, in his heart, doubted God who is Creator and who is Love.23 John Paul

II explains how original sin damaged the spousal meaning of the body. He explains

that concupiscence, a disorder in man’s desires inclining him toward sin, has

entered into the human heart as a result of original sin.24 However, John Paul II then

provides hope in the midst of brokenness because he explains that Jesus Christ has

the power to free man from sin and restore the spousal meaning of the body.

21 Ibid., 15:422 Pope Paul VI. Gaudium et Spes. 1965, 24:323 Ibid., 26:424 Healy, 33

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i. The experience of shame

As a consequence of the fall, man no longer experiences original solitude,

unity or nakedness but experiences shame when man realizes he is naked. “Then the

eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig

leaves together and made themselves aprons.” (Gen 3:7) As the man and the woman

hide their bodies from each other and from God, it shows that shame “touches the

deepest level” of man and “seems to shake the very foundation of their existence.”25

It is clear that man and woman no longer experience a deep understanding of their

bodies with the same peace. Instead, man experiences fear. Man and woman

experience a “rupture in the unity of spirit and body” and experience “a profound

distress at the awareness of something contrary to their dignity as persons.”26 Man,

for the first time, is not able to fully accept or understand the meaning of his own

body. In the beginning man was able to “distinguish himself, to identify himself” and

to “confirm himself as a person” through his body.27 Now it is hard for man to find

his own identity, his identity as a person and his identity in understanding who he is

before God.

Shame especially appears in the reciprocal relationship between man and

woman. In Genesis 3, as man and woman “sewed fig leaves together and made

themselves aprons,” they hide from each other parts of their bodies that specifically

make him male and her female (Gen 3:7). This shows that there is a sexual aspect to

shame. The way that man and woman originally communicated themselves to each

other through their bodies has been broken. Sexuality has become an obstacle and

25 Ibid., 27:126 Healy, 3427 Ibid., 27:4

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has threatened their relationship with one another because there is a sincere lack of

trust between them.28 This is because man is inclined to lust after a person. Lust is

“indulging in one’s sexual desires while treating oneself or someone else as an

object rather than a person.”29 So instead of man seeing the body as a “transparent

expression and true depth of the person” man is now tempted to view the body as

an “object to be used for pleasure” and “self-gratification.”30

ii. The spousal meaning of the body is damaged

Lust limits and violates the spousal meaning of the body. The body “has the

power to express the love by which the human person becomes a gift, thus fulfilling

the deep meaning of his or her being and existence.”31 However, because of

disordered desires, man is tempted to use the other person’s body for sexual

gratification. This desire goes against the dignity of the human person because as

“man becomes an object for man,” it depersonalizes him. By man becoming an object

for the other, man “casts doubt on the fact that each of them is willed by the Creator

for himself.”32 When a spousal relationship is filled with sin, the sexual union is no

longer an expression of love. When conjugal union is no longer rooted in complete

and total self-giving love, the union ceases to have meaning except that it satisfies

sexual desires. “The more concupiscence dominates the heart, the less the heart

experiences the spousal meaning of the body.”33 Thankfully, Christ has come to

28 Ibid., 29:5 29 Healy, 4130 Ibid.,, 3331 TOB, 32:132 Ibid., 32:533 Ibid., 32:3

9

redeem man from sin so that concupiscence no longer dominates his desires. Christ

has come so that man can rediscover the spousal meaning of the body.

iii. Christ appeals to the human heart

John Paul II explains that in the Sermon on the Mount, Christ calls man to rise

above his concupiscence of the flesh and live a new life in him. In the Sermon on the

Mount Christ says, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.'

But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already

committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matt 5: 27-28). These words from Christ

may appear to be an “accusation of the human heart” because lustful desires have a

tendency to dominate man. Christ says a man can commit adultery in his heart even

if he looks at a woman as an object to be used to satisfy his own sexual desire. So

even a husband can have lustful desires for his wife. However, John Paul II is

confident that Christ’s words are an appeal to the human heart. Man needs to know

that Christ calls him to a new way of living, which is rooted “in the truth of his

humanity, and thus also in the truth of his masculinity and femininity, in the truth of

his body.”34 This new way of living is made possible through Christ’s redemption.

Through him, man is redeemed and he is no longer “ruled by lust.” Christ’s words

have real power. Man can overcome his concupiscence of the flesh and he can live

according to the spousal meaning of the body and so fulfill the “deepest purpose” of

his life.35

iv. An appeal to live a life according to the spirit

34 Ibid., 46:635 Healy, 44

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The new way of living that Christ calls man is to live a life “according to the

spirit” (Rom 8: 5) The Holy Spirit gives man access and the power to participate in

Christ’s paschal mystery. St. Paul in his letter to the Romans describes the tension in

man between being ruled by the flesh and being ruled by the Spirit. “For those who

live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who

live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind

on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace” (Rom 8:5-9).

The Holy Spirit helps man to actively resist the temptations of the flesh so that he

can live a life in the Spirit.

In Matt 5: 27-28, it seems that Jesus is expressing the opposite of purity, but

more importantly Jesus “demands purity.”36 Purity allows man to turn his desire

toward the true value of the person. This means that man has to constantly deny his

desires of the flesh. Purity is a gift of the Holy Spirit and it needs to be cultivated in

one’s heart. Purity includes the virtue of temperance (or self-mastery), which is the

mastery of one’s desires.37 Self-mastery allows man to attain his dignity as a person

because a person is “someone who is aware of him-self and possesses himself.”38 A

person who practices these virtues has the freedom to live a life according to the

spirit. He has the freedom to live in truth of the spousal meaning of the body

because he is not ruled by impure or selfish desires.

c. Ephesians 5: The great mystery and the sacrament of marriage

36 TOB, 50:137 Healy, 4938 Schu, Walter. The Splendor of Love: John Paul II's Vision for Marriage and the Family. New

Hope, KY: New Hope Publications , 2003, 101

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In the next section of his reflections on human love, John Paul II analyzes

Ephesians 5: 21-33 to explain what the love between spouses should look like. He

shows, through scripture, the love between a husband and a wife should reflect the

love of God for his people, and the love of Christ for his Church. To love in this way

allows man to speak the language of the body in truth according to the spousal

meaning of the body. Without this love, man cannot understand who he is as a

person created in the image of God and he cannot have a marriage that fulfills the

plan of God.

“Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her… This mystery is a profound one, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church; however, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband." (Eph 5: 21-33)

i. The mystery of Christ’s spousal relationship to the Church

In this passage, St. Paul compares the spousal relationship of husband and

wife with the relationship between Christ and the Church. The spousal relationship

of husband and wife describes the mystery of Christ’s spousal union with the

Church. Christ’s union with the Church reveals God’s “eternal, steadfast love for

mankind.”39 The prophets of Israel in the Old Testament develop the idea that from

the beginning God’s love for his people was a spousal type of love. In Isaiah it

describes God’s relationship with his people, “for your Maker is your husband, the

LORD of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of

39 Schu, 133

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the whole earth he is called” (Isa 54:5). These words speak about the “mystery

hidden in the heart of God.”40 God’s love for his people is a gift because he freely

chooses to initiate this love. God’s love is so “passionate” that he forms a covenantal

bond with his bride, his chosen people, “for the mountains may depart and the hills

be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of

peace shall not be removed” (Isa 54:10). God, above all, shows this covenantal love

to his people when he gave up his only son on the cross. When Jesus died on the

cross he consummated his spousal union with the Church, his bride.41 Jesus’ death

on the cross shows that love requires a total self-gift, it requires sacrifice and it

requires suffering.

ii. The spousal relationship between the husband and wife

Christ’s relationship with the Church “reveals the essential truth about

marriage.” It reveals that, “marriage corresponds to the vocation of Christians only

when it mirrors the love that Christ, the Bridegroom, gives to the Church, his bride,

and which the Church seeks to give back to Christ in return.”42 The foundation of the

relationship between husband and wife is one of “mutual submission.”43 St. Paul

says, “be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Eph 5: 21). This means

that the husband and wife are to defer to one another and put the other person’s

needs ahead of their own. St. Paul further develops this idea of mutual submission

by explaining the husband and wife’s different but equal roles in marriage. St. Paul

says, “wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord” (Eph 5: 22) This means

40 Healy, 69 41 Healy, 7242 TOB, 9-:243 Healy, 81

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that wives are urged to experience the love of their husbands because the “husband

is above all, he who loves and the wife, on the other hand, is she who is loved.”44 St.

Paul says, “husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church” (Eph 5: 25). The

husband’s love for his wife should be a total self-gift, free of selfish desires. His love

should be a “total affirmation of her as a person,” and he should be willing to give up

his life for her. The wife’s role is to receive this gift of love and respond to his gift so

that they are “mutually interpenetrated, spiritually belonging to one another.”45

iii. The sacrament of marriage

The sacrament of marriage, one of the seven sacraments of the Church, is an

“efficacious sign” of the covenant between Christ and the Church.46 In the sacrament,

spouses participate in the self-giving love of Christ on the cross, as he consummated

his love to the Church. The words of consent that are spoken between the husband

and wife, “I take you as my wife; I take you as my husband,” are the words that

create the covenantal bond. The spouses promise fidelity, promise to be open to

children and “promise their whole selves.” Then, the marriage is consummated in an

unbreakable covenant through conjugal union. 47 In marriage, the husband and wife

unite to “become one flesh” so that “they each love the other as they love themselves

and cherish each other’s bodies as their own” (Gen 2:24).48 God has willed from the

beginning for husband and wife to form a covenantal union so strong that they love

one another until the end. God has willed this love to be completely self-giving so

44 Schu, 13645 Healy, 8246 CCC, 161747 Healy, Mary, 8548 U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan. Wahington DC,

2009, 30

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much so husband and wife “give oneself to one’s spouse as fully as Christ gave

himself to the Church.”49

iv. The language of the body

If man and woman truly do give themselves up to one another than they are

speaking the spousal language of the body in truth. The body is so much a part of the

person that the “body speaks a language which man is not the author of.”50The body

communicates a spousal meaning because the body is made to express the

reciprocal love of man and woman who together form a communion of persons. It is

important that they speak the language of the body in truth because the body is the

way in which husband and wife form a communion of persons and the way they

most deeply express their love for one another. In the sacrament, the conjugal union

between the spouses makes visible and communicates the love that God has for his

people and the love that Christ has for his bride, the Church. If man and woman lie

through the language of their body in conjugal union, by holding part of themselves

back, than they “contradict the sacramental sign.” So, when spouses do not speak

the spousal language of the body in truth, they are proclaiming to the world that

“God’s spousal love is not total and not life giving.”51

III. Pope John Paul II Defends Humanae Vitae’s teaching on contraception

In today’s world, the spousal meaning of the body is constantly being

communicated through a lie. This is because, since the 1930’s, there has been a

growing acceptance of contraception. Today, contraception has become so much a

part of the culture that many married spouses as well as unmarried couples use

49 Ibid., 3250 Healy, 9551 Healy, 96

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contraception as a means of birth control. As a result of the increased use of

contraception, sex has been removed so far from its “intrinsic orientation to new

life” that the purpose of sex is to seek pleasure. Sex is no longer sacred to marriage.

It is no longer a way for husband and wife to communicate their whole selves to

each other through a love that is self-giving. There has been an increase in marital

infidelity. The goodness of marriage and family has been attacked. The acceptance of

contraception has lead to a culture that supports cohabitation, promiscuity,

homosexuality, pornography and abortion.52 The contraceptive mentality damages

marriage, and it damages the dignity of the human person. It has lead many people

to struggle to find their identity, to understand their bodies and to understand the

meaning of their life.

a. John Paul II explains the moral teachings of Humanae Vitae

In response to the struggles in married life and human sexuality, John Paul II

developed the theology of the body to defend the true dignity of the person and to

explain who man is in relation to God and the purpose of his body in its masculinity

and femininity. His catechesis on human love comes to its culmination in the final

section as he practically applies his theology of the body to the teachings of Humane

Vitae. This encyclical teaches that contraception is intrinsically evil. John Paul II’s

understanding of the person helps to explain this teaching of the Church. In his

catechesis, he above all teaches that contraception is morally wrong because

contraception opposes the true dignity of the person.

“He holds that to the acceptance of artificial contraception there corresponds one vision of the human person, and to the rejection of it there corresponds an entirely different vision of the person. The

52 Ibid., 92

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norms taught in this encyclical, then, do not just concern the marital practice of spouses in their child-bearing years; they raise the whole question of the truth about man and woman and about the human person”53

i. An overview of Humanae Vitae

Humane Vitae is an encyclical issued on July 24, 1968 by Pope Paul VI on

human life issues. This encyclical was issued in response to a crisis that was

triggered by an increased acceptance of all forms of birth control. The moral

teachings of Humanae Vitae concerning “the nature of marriage and the correct use

of conjugal rights and the duties of husband and wife” are founded on the natural

law and are deepened through divine revelation.54 Humanae Vitae teaches that God

instituted the sacrament of marriage from the beginning so that man and woman

can form a communion of persons in a gift of self and so “become only one heart and

one only soul and together attain their human perfection.”

This communion of persons is ordered to children as man and woman can

participate with God in creating new life. Humanae Vitae affirms the importance of

children in married life by saying that children are the “supreme gift of marriage.”55

Humanae Vitae teaches that conjugal love between spouses requires “responsible

parenthood.” Responsible parenthood means the “knowledge and respect” of the

biological functions. It means being ruled by one’s reason and will and not

dominated by one’s instincts or passions. Responsible parenthood requires the

53 John Crosby in Why Humanae Vitae Was Right. San Francsico: Ignatius Press, 1993, 19754 Pope Paul IV. "Encyclical Letter." Humanae Vitae. 1968, 455 Ibid., 9

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husband and wife to make the “deliberate” decision to raise a big family or the

decision to avoid having children for good reasons by respecting the moral law. The

husband and wife also need to develop a deeper relationship to the “objective moral

order established by God” by recognizing their personal duties first towards God

and then “towards themselves, towards the family, and towards society.”56

Therefore, responsible parenthood requires the husband and wife to conform their

marriage to God’s will by respecting the nature of the marital union and by

following the teachings of the Church.

ii. The unitive and procreative meaning of the conjugal act

John Paul II concentrates on the part of Humanae Vitae, which says that the

unitive and procreative meaning of the conjugal act can never be separated.

“The Church…teaches that each and every marriage act must remain open to the transmission of life. That teaching…is founded upon the inseparable connection, willed by God and unable to be broken by the man on his own initiative, between the two meanings of the conjugal act: the unitive and the procreative meaning.”57

There is a unitive meaning to the conjugal act because the man and the woman unite

to become one flesh and form a communion of persons. “In the mystery of creation,

man was endowed with a deep unity between what is, humanly and through the

body, male in him and what is, equally humanly and through the body, female in

her.” From the beginning, this unity was connected with the “blessing of fertility”

and the power of procreation.58 God is “the author of nature” and he has willed the

connection between the unitive and procreative aspects of conjugal union.

56 Ibid., 1057 Ibid., 1258 Smith, Janet. Humanae Vitae a Generation Later. Washington DC: CUA Press, 1991, 255

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Respecting the nature of the body is to respect God. However, to “violate nature is to

do an injustice to God.” Contraceptive union violates the nature of the procreative

meaning of conjugal union. Spouses who use contraception reject their very nature

by rejecting the gift God has given them to participate in procreation. The spouses

make the sexual act sterile and thus cease to be participants in God’s nature.

Therefore, “contraceptive intercourse is unjust to both God and man.”59

b. Contraception opposes the dignity of the human person

The act of contraception introduces a limitation on the reciprocal self-

donation between the spouses. This act “expresses an objective refusal to give to the

other all the good of femininity and masculinity.”60 Each spouse, as a consequence of

contraception, “inevitably gets eroded by the attitude of selfishly using the other for

one’s own gratification.” This is a consequence no matter what the couple intends.

Using another person for sexual gratification goes against the dignity of the human

person because no person should ever be used as a means toward an end. A person

is a creature, who God wills for his own sake, and so he is “a being of his own…

strongly gathered into himself and anchored into himself.” There, however, is a

paradox in the truth about man because man is “not so much a being of his own as to

be able to live for himself and be happy in solitude.” Instead, a person has to “make a

gift of himself to another in order to gain that being of his own which belongs to him

as a person.”61 Man can only find his identity as a person made in the image of God

by giving himself to another.

i. Conjugal union requires self-donation

59 Smith, 24260 Crosby, 20361 Ibid., 206

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“The most radical self-giving of one human person to another human person

occurs between man and woman in spousal love.”62 This act of conjugal union is so

profound because it expresses a “surrender of oneself to the other, and the will of

each to come to belong to the other.” “Precisely” because a person is a being of his

own who has self-awareness and self-determination can a person give himself away

to his spouse. Man does not lose himself through this self-donation but rather it is

the only way man is able to find himself as a person. In conjugal union between

spouses, self-donation is essential. The body has a spousal language because

conjugal union expresses and enacts man and woman’s “spousal surrender to each

other and their spousal belonging to each other.”63

It is important that every time spouses perform the marital act it is spoken in

the truth of the language of the body. In marriage, man and woman consummate

their marital covenant through conjugal union. Every time spouses perform the

marital act, spouses “continuously re-propose the sign they themselves gave—

through the liturgy of the sacrament—on the day of their wedding.”64 The conjugal

union communicates the mystery of God’s love to the Church. It is a “permanent

reminder to the Church of what happened on the Cross.” It “represents the mystery

of Christ’s incarnation and the mystery of His covenant.”65 Conjugal love, therefore,

demands definitive indissolubility and faithfulness in definitive mutual giving. The

contraceptive act does not form a union where the spouses reciprocally become a

62 Ibid., 21263 Ibid., 21564 TOB, 118:465 Pope John Paul II. Familiaris consortio. 1982, 13:32

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gift of self for one another. Spouses tell a lie with their body because with

contraception the body is incapable of expressing sacrificial love.

c. Natural Family Planning

Humanae Vitae “fully approves the natural regulation of fertility.”66 The

Church approves of Natural Family Planning (NFP), which is a method where the

spouses chart the woman’s fertility cycle to determine when the woman is fertile

and infertile, as a means to regulate fertility. The Church approves of abstaining

from sex during fertile periods when spouses want to space out births. The reasons

to abstain from sexual union must be for “serious reasons that stem either from the

physical or psychological condition of the couple or from external circumstances.”67

There are essential moral differences between natural family planning and

contraception. The spouses that practice NFP remain open to children in each sexual

act. They do nothing “to close out the possibility of having children.” The spouses

speak the truth of the spousal meaning of the body because their sexual union still

has its “full, natural meaning.” The spouses give of themselves fully and hold nothing

back from one another. NFP “recognizes fertility as a good and does nothing to deny

this good; it operates fully in accord with the laws of nature, which are the laws of

God.” 68 On the other hand, contraception opposes the natural order. It treats fertility

as an unwanted consequence to sex and therefore closes out the possibility of

procreation completely.

66 TOB, 124:167 Ibid.,, 124:568 Smith in Why Humanae Vitae Was Right, 245

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i. Natural Family Planning builds virtue

In his catechesis, John Paul II affirms the use of NFP as he “emphasizes the

positive effects of NFP for the human person.” John Paul II teaches that NFP

supports the growth of self-mastery in the spouses. This virtue of self-mastery was

in man before the fall. To experience the freedom from original sin, which destroyed

original unity, the “mastery of the self is indispensable for the human person.”

Spouses who practice NFP learn to control their desires as they develop self-

mastery over their passions. Men who have control over their passions are able to

use their bodies to express what they wish to express. After the fall lust has become

a great temptation for man. Lust causes man to look at his spouse as an object to be

used for sexual gratification. “One moved by lust cannot love” because love requires

man to become a self-gift to his beloved and the nature of lust is to take for oneself.69

The love between spouses becomes lustful with the use of contraception because

the purpose of the marital union becomes the means to seek pleasure. “For those

who have control are able to use sexual union to express their love, not to use their

beloved solely as a means of satisfying their physical desire.”70 However, for those

who are controlled by their sexual desires are tempted by lust and therefore treat

others as an object to be used for satisfaction.

IV. Conclusion

John Paul II, in his catechesis, teaches the truth about man. “There is a truth

about who we are, about our bodies, our masculinity and femininity, and above all,

about our personhood, and about our creaturehood.” Man, from the very beginning,

69 Smith, 24870 Smith in Why Humanae Vitae Was Right, 246

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was made in the image of God. Man is a person of his own being, not so much in

solitude, but in communion when he becomes a gift of self to his beloved. The body

has a spousal meaning because it was made to become a self-gift so that man and

woman can unite to become one flesh in marriage. The truth about man goes back to

the beginning of creation. However, in today’s culture, understanding the truth

about man is hard. It is hard for men and women today to find their identity, to

understand their sexuality, to understand their bodies. There are many factors that

have contributed to this problem but John Paul II especially focuses on the sexual

morality of contraception, which is addressed in Humanae Vitae. More specifically,

he defends against the use of contraception by saying that it opposes the true

dignity of the person. Through his teachings, John Paul II wants people to not only

understand the sexual morals of Humanae Vitae but to live in accordance with them.

He believes that if we understand the truth about man and live according to this

truth than the moral truths of Humanae Vitae will be “internalized, made our own”

and thus cease “to be a burden even when it requires considerable sacrifice.”71

71 Crosby, 198

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John Paul II. Man and Women He Created Them, A Theology of the Body. Boston:

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Pope John Paul II. Familiaris consortio. 1982.

Pope Paul IV. Humanae Vitae. 1968.

Schu, Walter. The Splendor of Love: John Paul II's Vision for Marriage and the Family.

New Hope, KY: New Hope Publications , 2003.

Smith, Janet. Humanae Vitae a Generation Later. Washington DC: CUA Press, 1991.

Smith, Janet, ed. Why Humanae Vitae Was Right. San Francsico: Ignatius Press, 1993.

U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan.

Wahington DC, 2009.

Pope Paul VI. Gaudium et Spes. 1965.

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