Will You Come Run with Me to Happiness?
I think the teaching on artificial contraception is probably one of the most misunderstood teachings and Dogmas of the Church. It is so sad that so many of us, even as we sit in Catholic schools and congregations are misled and not fully informed about the reason why there is no case for artificial contraception that is not sinful, harmful to the soul, and devastating to the world. It is an intrinsically evil act that most Catholics openly defy the Church on. Yet, once truly understood is the most amazing and beautiful Dogmas that the Church stands firm on.
It isn’t surprising that the beauty and holiness of the teaching is so fractured, broken and misrepresented. Satan always attacks the holiest that God gives to us, and he is quite successful at distorting beauty with filth and vulgarity. Which is what the whole notion of artificial contraception encourages and legitimizes.
I myself did not understand this for many years and was one of those who openly defied the Church on this teaching. It is my biggest regret in life. I now understand that the sin of using artificial contraception, a grave sin, is openly and proudly a direct defiance of trust and love of God and the life that he so generously allows us to participate in the creation of. When our own actions of love and unity come together to not only create a physical life, a baby, but also the existence of an eternal soul, WOW!, that is truly incredible. God allows us, as mere human creatures, to help populate the eternal and heavenly realm with eternal souls! When we defy God, and reject the new life he enables us to unify with him in the creation of, we negate the existence of eternal souls! Souls that could occupy the stratosphere forever! It is truly mind blowing that God allows us this power, and choice; and devastating that we abuse it and destroy it the way we do.
We take the beauty of a gift God gave us as an avenue to participate in his divinity and defile it with the Earthly vices of lust, greed and pride. We hold it up as a possession to be used for manipulation, perversion, and selfishness. We degrade it to an Earthly pursuit instead of a divine one, and in the process we are losing our souls.
Much of the evil we see today stems from the acceptance and proliferation of the use of artificial contraception. Ironically, as women strive to break free from the bonds of male dominance and objectification, we have become even more enslaved to it through the use of artificial contraception. Once the divine is removed from a conjugal union, what is left is a temporal attempt to assume dominance over the divine and basic rights of life for all. We minimize and cheapen the concept and amazing ability we have to create new life, for cheap and shallow acts of physical pleasure and entertainment. We see nothing that reflects the divine and holy nature of God. When the divine vanishes, the Devil can reign supreme with our enthusiastic invitation and in our delight. As the veil between good and evil becomes more deluded and confused, evil then explodes and thrives, revealing itself in rising abortion rates, pornography addictions, sex slave trafficking, sexual assaults, and child prostitution, among many others. Ultimately, once the true beauty of femininity, as the ability to bring new life into the world, dissolves, gender identity confusion and dysphoria creeps in and the whole model of family becomes eroded. The idea of marriage as a sacred bond between one man and one woman, to create and then care, sanctify, and nurture new life as a family unit, breaks apart. The idea of family becomes obsolete. We as humans try to take control and in the absence of God, everything falls apart with devastating results. A world is in chaos as it tries to define itself with false notions that glory in false gods and the worship of self through power and greed.
That is where we find ourselves today. We are lost. We prefer soccer games and false worship, with coffee bars and pop music on Sunday mornings, rather than participating in the very sacrificial offering that Christ himself instituted 2000 years ago. It is not surprising that the idea of something so sacrificial and selfless, make many uncomfortable. It is a foreign idea in today’s society. We are sliding down a very slippery slope, straight into the abyss of Hell. It really is our choice though. God wants our love freely and willingly, he does not force it. We can make our own choice, and that is really the one and only reason for our Earthly existence. What choice are we making? Is it the one that we think it is? It is easy to say we love God, but do we really? Loving God entails more than just voice and empty rhetoric, it requires action. Love is a verb. The very essence of God is a “work”, so let’s make sure our “works” are the right ones. These works must be defined by Him as good and holy and not deftly defined for us.
We need to get back the basics. God’s creation is perfect, let’s stop trying to perfect it on our own terms and let the creator reveal it in His!