Reflection on March 5, 1980

https://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/jp2tb19.htm;’

I have never heard of “mysterium iniquitatis” (mystery of iniquity) before. JPII talks about it in union with the mystery of death as barriers to the “beginning”. It appears obvious from the context that iniquity is analogous to sin, but I had never heard of sin as a mystery, sin was always just sin. I was thinking why sin is a mystery. We read that St. Paul knows what he should do but doesn’t, that he knows what he should not do, yet does. Is that the mystery, doing things we know we shouldn’t, knowing it will hurt us in the end, knowing it will never truly satisfy yet continuing? Or is it something else.

While I was thinking about the mystery of sin and beginning this speech which starts the Chapter on “Knowledge and Procreation” I was wondering about the inheritance of sin. The fall effected Adam and Eve in a physical and spiritual way. They past this on to Cain and Able, so on and so forth up until us. We were born with original sin, inherited from Adam and Eve. I was wondering what would have happened if Adam and Eve had a child before the fall and what they would have inherited. Along that same lines, Adam and Eve become one flesh (consummate the marriage) before the fall, but no child came from that act. Therefore we can see that God makes the act sacred outside of it being solely for child baring, although it requires the openness to child baring.

It is sad to think that the goal of the conjugal act was to achieve an ultimate knowledge of the person and the world has stripped it so far down that, at my day job, I see mothers who have no knowledge of who the father of their children are. It goes to the deterioration of the meaning of the act, its specialty, its purpose. God created it as a way to obtain a unique knowledge of another. You were only to get this knowledge of one other person, you were to share this knowledge of yourself with only one other person, and you would learn who they were and who you were supposed to be in a very special way.

2 things that I thought about while reading this. The knowing of your spouse, although climaxing in the conjugal act, nevertheless extents to every aspect of life, or at least should. When a husband and wife make that commitment, they are united and should “know” each other in such a way that everything is shared. They should “know” each other in such a way that the anticipate the other, maybe not agree all the time, but understand the other’s motives and where they are coming from. Disagreements may occur because of differing opinions, but arguments and fights should be nonexistent because you “know” each other enough that you know why the person is saying or feeling what they are feeling. The conjugal act is merely a physical demonstration of the knowledge to share with each other on a daily basis at all other times. (LOL, if only it were that simple) But that is where we should strive and image a marriage where a couple “knew” each other that well and in that way and the happiness they would show.

The second thought was, if the gift of this knowledge was intended to be given once and to only one other, what happens to that gift when it is given to others. Obviously, the gift given in marriage is a great gift, you may even be able to call it unique (if only one marriage for life), but something has been taken from it. It is not the full gift it would have been, it is missing something. It makes you think about how important a gift our virginity is and what we give away as nothing in the eyes of the world. The world see virginity as a (crime is the word I want to use) defect. How far from the truth they are when you see it as a gift God has created in you that you can only give once and never again. And how little the gift means, even to a married couple, when it has been given away so cheaply by them before the marriage. Is it any wonder that marriage is deteriorating in a world that cheapens the act? If the act is a climax and image of all that a marriage stands for on a daily basis and the world treats it so cheaply it is not a leap to image it will treat the idea of marriage as cheaply.

Words I looked up.

Iniquity - a violation of right or duty; wicked act; sin.

Thematically - of or pertaining to a theme.

Intentionality - done with intention or on purpose; intended: