September 22, 2012 – Catechism 1822 – 1829

We are called to love, it is our new Christian commandment.  The fruits of love are joy, peace, and mercy.  The thing about love is that it is distorted in our world.  How many people, when they think of love think of feelings between two people in a relationship.  How many first think of sacrifice.  But that is true love.  True love is fully giving up yourself for someone else.  There are times for feelings, but love is not based on feelings.  It is not based on pleasure or power or wealth or any worldly or material thing.  It is about being wholly willing to give of yourself for someone else.  There are different forms of love, the love of spouses is different than a parent to a child, but if the foundation is not a willingness to sacrifice, it isn’t love, it is something else. 

If you are not willing to love a child, sacrifice your life and the way you live, and give everything you have for a child, you should not have sex.  Forget everything else about contraception and abortion and any other part of the issue.  If you cannot say that you are willing to love a child, you aren’t ready for sex.  Those that think sex is a sign of love and then have an abortion are completely distorting any real definition of love.  Even using contraception is contradictory if you say you love the person because you are not giving yourself wholly to that person.  You are holding back, you are lying.  People always say that without contraception there would be so many unplanned pregnancies and abortions would rise.  If we taught what love actually means there wouldn’t be a need for them because sex wouldn’t be so abused.