Reflection on November 14, 1984

https://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/jp2tb126.htm

What I took from this is the importance of living in the Spirit, allowing the graces of the Holy Spirit, is to actually being able to live out a proper married life. That is one of the reasons Catholics view this as a Sacrament, why the married couple is married in the Church, in the ceremony of matrimony, and receives those Graces from God. Without it, there is little chance to try and actually live out the union that they are called to live out.

Another odd contradiction that the world gets wrong is the fact that love, as one of its essential characteristics, is sacrifice. Continence fits right into that understanding and allows the experience of sacrifice to strengthen marriage. The world says that sacrifice is unnatural and should only be done as a last resort. It only further shows that the world’s understanding of love is distorted and not really what love is. Looking at the last reflection, the world’s idea of love is a childish and selfish idea of love. It is funny that when it comes to trust in God, a child’s trust goes far beyond that of an adult that has learned to be mistrustful. But when you look at love, a child’s love is a selfish love because they have not learned the importance of sacrifice. We are told by Christ to have the faith of a child, but not to love like a child. The world sees the trust of a child as a weakness, but sees the way they love as a model.

This is a bit off topic, but I just heard Fr. Barron talking about the Trinity. Although the Theology of the Body didn’t really discuss the Trinity too much, it does touch on it when talking about understanding God through the union of husband and wife. In light of that, this may have some or no relevance. He was talking about God being 3 persons in 1 being and why that is supposed to be confusing to us but why it is necessary. He said that if God were only 1 person in 1 being, He would be limited. However, if He were multiple beings, He would also be limited. Because He is perfection, He is perfect and limitless and perfect in every aspect. Therefore, He needs to be both singular (being) and multiple (persons) in order to be fully perfect. I had never heard an explanation like that before and thought I would share it.