NFP teaches couples how to make generosity and sacrifice the heart of their marriage
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
“It’s not what he said, it’s how he said it.”
Anyone who’s ever heard an apology (or a non-apology!) knows the importance of how we say something. Anyone who’s ever watched an anxious or gracious host knows the importance of how we do things.
And that’s a good introduction to Natural Family Planning (NFP) Awareness Week, which the Church observes from July 20-26. How we hold our sexuality has become a major problem in the world; NFP can play a key role in getting us back on track.
In terms of the details of how NFP works, I’ll leave things to the professionals, whom you can contact through the archdiocesan Office of Natural Family Planning. But let me say a few things about the role that NFP can play in shaping culture.
It’s clear that something’s wrong in the world today — many things, in fact! The relationship between soul and body, the relationship between women and men, and the way we interact with our desires are persistent “hot spots” in history and prominent themes in our difficulties today. One of the powerful things about NFP is that it gives us tools to address all of those “hot spots.”
NFP is a practical expression of the Theology of the Body, which tells us that the soul and the body are intimately linked. Tears and hugs show us that traffic moves in both directions between the soul and the body! NFP is a school of training in the connection in the midst of a culture that tries to divide the soul and the body.
NFP requires husbands and wives to communicate about the intimate details of their life and to share in the project of putting their priorities into action together. Every marriage is supposed to do that! But culture assumes that this will happen and is surprised when it doesn’t. NFP trains and helps couples to do it on a daily basis.
It doesn’t take any training to be aware of our immediate desires. However, where the culture encourages people to simply follow their desires, NFP requires that we weigh our immediate desires against our long-term goals. Think of how many things in the world would be different if everyone learned and followed that kind of discipline!
Friends, virtue is not the easier path; it’s the better path. We know that when it comes to so many other areas of our lives: exercise is not easier than sitting on the couch, and cooking fresh meals is not easier than fast food. Similarly, what NFP offers is not to make marriage easier, but to make marriage better.
NFP teaches couples how to make generosity and sacrifice the heart of their marriage. By doing that it helps couples follow Jesus more closely. The more closely spouses follow the generosity and sacrifice of Jesus, the more convincing they can be in inviting others — starting with their children, but extending beyond them, too — to do the same.
That’s a lesson we could all heed.
To learn more about NFP, visit the Office of Natural Family Planning website: www.archstl.org/natural-family-planning.
