Respect for the Work of
God
General Audience, November 21, 1984
1. On the basis of the doctrine
contained in the Encyclical Humanae Vitae, we intend to trace an
outline of conjugal spirituality. In the spiritual life of married
couples the gifts of the Holy Spirit are at work, especially the
gift of piety, that is, the gift of respect for what is a work of
God.
This gift, together with love and chastity, helps to identify in the
sum total of married life that act in which, at least potentially,
the spousal meaning of the body is linked with the procreative
meaning. It leads to understanding, among the possible
manifestations of affection, the singular or rather the exceptional
significance of that act: its dignity and the consequent serious
responsibility connected with it. Therefore, the antithesis of
conjugal spirituality is constituted, in a certain sense, by the
subjective lack of this understanding which is linked to
contraceptive practice and mentality. In addition to everything
else, this does enormous harm from the point of view of man's
interior culture. The virtue of conjugal chastity, and still more
the gift of respect for what comes from God, mold the couple's
spirituality to the purpose of protecting the particular dignity of
this act, of this manifestation of affection. In it, the truth of
the language of the body can be expressed only by safeguarding the
procreative potential.
Responsible fatherhood and motherhood means the spiritual
appraisal—conforming to truth—of the conjugal act in the knowledge
and in the will of both spouses. In this manifestation of affection,
after considering the interior and external circumstances,
especially the biological ones, they express their mature readiness
for fatherhood and motherhood.
3. Respect for the work of God contributes to seeing that the
conjugal act does not become diminished and deprived of the interior
meaning of married life as a whole—that it does not become a
habit—and that there is expressed in it a sufficient fullness of
personal and ethical content, and also of religious content, that
is, veneration for the majesty of the Creator, the only and the
ultimate depository of the source of life, and for the spousal love
of the Redeemer. All this creates and enlarges, so to speak, the
interior space for the mutual freedom of the gift in which there is
fully manifested the spousal meaning of masculinity and femininity.
The obstacle to this freedom is presented by the interior
constriction of concupiscence, directed to the other "I" as an
object of pleasure. Respect for what God creates gives freedom from
this constriction. It frees from all that reduces the other "I" to a
mere object and it strengthens the interior freedom of the gift.
4. This can happen only through a profound appreciation of the
personal dignity of both the feminine "I" and the masculine "I" in
their shared life. This spiritual appreciation is the fundamental
fruit of the gift of the Spirit, which urges the person to respect
the work of God. From this appreciation, and therefore indirectly
from that gift, all the affectionate manifestations which make up
the fabric of remaining faithful to the union of marriage derive
their true spousal meaning. This union is expressed through the
conjugal act only in given circumstances. But it can and it must be
manifested continually, every day, through various affectionate
manifestations which are determined by the capacity of a
disinterested emotion of the "I" in relation to femininity and,
reciprocally, in relation to masculinity.
The attitude of respect for the work of God, which the Spirit stirs
up in the couple, has an enormous significance for those
affectionate manifestations. This is because side by side with it
there is the capacity for deep satisfaction, admiration,
disinterested attention to the visible and at the same time the
invisible beauty of femininity and masculinity, and finally a deep
appreciation of the disinterested gift of the other.
5. All this determines the spiritual identification of what is male
or female, of what is corporeal and at the same time personal. From
this spiritual identification there emerges the awareness of the
union through the body, in safeguarding the interior freedom of the
gift. Through the affectionate manifestations the couple help each
other remain faithful to the union. At the same time these
manifestations protect in each of them that deep-rooted peace which
is in a certain sense the interior resonance of chastity guided by
the gift of respect for what God creates.
This gift involves a profound and universal attention to the person
in one's masculinity and femininity, thus creating the interior
climate suitable for personal communion. That procreation which we
describe as responsible, rightly matures only in this climate of the
personal communion of the couple.
6. The Encyclical Humanae Vitae enables us to trace an outline of
conjugal spirituality. This is the human and supernatural climate in
which—taking the "biological" order into consideration and, at the
same time, on the basis of chastity sustained by the gift of
piety—is formed the interior harmony of marriage, in respect for
what the encyclical calls "the twofold significance of the conjugal
act" (HV 12). This harmony means that the couple live together in
the interior truth of the language of the body. The Encyclical
Humanae Vitae proclaims that the connection between this truth and
love is inseparable.
Taken from: L'Osservatore Romano
Weekly Edition in English 26 November 1984, page 1.
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