This love…is also, and above all, an act of the free will, whose trust is such that it is meant not only to survive the joys and sorrows of daily life, but also to grow, so that husband and wife become in a way one heart and one soul, and together attain their human fulfillment.
It is a love which is total—that very special form of personal friendship in which husband and wife generously share everything, allowing no unreasonable exceptions and not thinking solely of their own convenience. Whoever really loves his partner loves not only for what he receives, but loves that partner for the partner’s own sake, content to be able to enrich the other with the gift of himself.
Married love is also faithful and exclusive of all other, and this until death. This is how husband and wife understood it on the day on which, fully aware of what they were doing, they freely vowed themselves to one another in marriage. Though this fidelity of husband and wife sometimes presents difficulties, no one has the right to assert that it is impossible; it is, on the contrary, always honorable and meritorious. The example of countless married couples proves not only that fidelity is in accord with the nature of marriage, but also that it is the source of profound and enduring happiness.
Finally, this love is fecund. It is not confined wholly to the loving interchange of husband and wife; it also contrives to go beyond this to bring new life into being.
Humanae Vitae, paragraph 9
Natural Family Planning (NFP) aligns with God’s plan for marriage and family life, allowing couples to live out the key elements of married love: free, total, faithful, fruitful, and sacrificial.
From the first book of the Bible to the last, God uses the analogy of love between a husband and wife to express His love for us. The story of God’s love starts with the marriage of Adam and Eve in Genesis and ends with the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in Revelation—the union of Christ and the Church in Heaven. God’s love is always free, total, faithful, fruitful (life-giving), and sacrificial. His design for marital love reflects and embodies these same qualities.
In a Catholic wedding, these five aspects of love are mirrored in the vows exchanged. Couples affirm that they have come together “freely and wholeheartedly,” that they will be faithful to one another all their lives, and that they will accept children as gifts from God. Consummation (sex) unites their bodies.
Every act of marital love is a renewal of the wedding vows.
Practicing NFP allows couples to faithfully honor their marriage vows, honoring the key elements of married love. In marital intimacy, spouses give and receive each other fully, mirroring God’s abundant love.
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