Reflection on September 1, 1982

https://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/jp2tb91.htm

I think when you start talking about a “holy and immaculate Church”, you will lose a lot of people because they see the scandal and the sin of those that are in the Church and those leaders of the Church. But the Church is not the sum of all its members; it is above and beyond that. The Church is supernatural and cannot be tarnished or lose its holy and immaculate status because of the actions of man. If this were not true, it could not be a part of Christ, specifically His Body. Christ would not unite Himself with something that was tarnished with sin because He Himself is without sin. People may see this as a cop out in that the we say the Church is perfect but can still admit that there are very sinful acts that have happened by those in the Church. The Church does declare that it can make infallible teachings, teachings that are the Truth and will never change. But these are pretty rare and must meet certain criteria. Many of the things the Church says and does are not in this category and can be mistakes. Those infallible teachings and the ability to make those teachings are the Perfect part of the Church, the “holy and immaculate” part.

I wonder if those that read a wife should submit to her husband ever read that in the context of it meaning a wife should open herself to experience his love. The husband is to love his wife as Christ loves the Church, the wife is to be loved, “is the one who is loved”. A submission to being loved, I see, is opening yourself up to be loved, allowing yourself to be vulnerable to be loved. SJPII seems to bring this idea into the setting of Christ in the Church as the Church, in order to receive the graces of God’s love, must open itself up to God’s love. A wife submits to her husband when she opens up to him completely and allows herself to be fully loved. (you could use this analogy and discussion to get into a discussion on contraception and see it as a barrier to this opening up to love, submission. You can also see how the feminist movement, in seeing submission as a evil thing, would push contraception, because it is a act of not submitting, of retaining independence.)

If a wife is fully to open herself up, the husband is to fully give his love, as Christ did the Church. Is there anything Christ kept? He fully gave Himself, dying on the cross, for the Church, out of love for the Church. In order to have this marriage analogy, we come back to the idea that both must be willing to give and receive fully, without barrier, without restriction, without holding back. If anything is held back, it is not what it was or is intended to be, as viewed from the beginning or as in this analogy of Ephesians.