NEW CONTEXT FOR SEXUAL MORALITY

    John Paul's original insights provide a whole new context for understanding the Church's teaching on sexuality, particularly her teaching against contraception. This is, in fact, the linchpin of all sexual morality. For as soon as sexual union is divorced from its inherent link with procreation, any means to sexual climax can be justified (the sexual revolution of the 20th century has certainly demonstrated this in practice).

Based on the logic of the theology of the body, one can speak of morality in the sexual relationship according to "whether or not it has the character of the truthful sign" (Aug 27, 1980). All sexual morality, then, comes down to this simple question: Does this behavior incarnate God's love or does it not?

For those who have been enlightened by the Holy Spirit to understand the "great mystery" of nuptial union, contraception is simply unthinkable. Nuptial union is meant to proclaim the mystery of the Trinity - that "God is life-giving love." In this sense the Pope says the "language of the body" is prophetic. However, an intentionally sterilized act of intercourse proclaims the opposite. It changes the "language of the body" into a specific denial of God's creative love, making the spouses "false prophets."

Nuptial union is also meant to be a sacramental sign of Christ's union with the Church. But for sacraments to convey spiritual realities, the physical must accurately symbolize the spiritual. Insert contraception into this picture and (knowingly or unknowingly) a couple engages in a counter-sign of Christ's union with the Church. This is why an intentionally sterilized act of intercourse can never consummate a marriage - it is a contradiction of the very essence of the "great mystery" of the sacrament.