Humanae Vitae

Humanae Vitae's 40th annivesary was July, 25th. If you have not read this encyclical letter from Pope Paul VI you may do so at: http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/paul_vi/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_25071968_humanae-vitae_en.html

Pope Paul VI, blessed with the Holy Spirit, really nails the issue with clarity and prescience. It is a short read written in a manner which allows we laymen to wrap our minds around this most important church teaching. Some highlights are:

"Marriage, then, is far from being the effect of chance or the result of the blind evolution of natural forces. It is in reality the wise and provident institution of God the Creator, whose purpose was to effect in man His loving design. As a consequence, husband and wife, through that mutual gift of themselves, which is specific and exclusive to them alone, develop that union of two persons in which they perfect one another, cooperating with God in the generation and rearing of new lives."

"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. "Marriage and conjugal love are by their nature ordained toward the procreation and education of children. Children are really the supreme gift of marriage and contribute in the highest degree to their parents' welfare.""

"the fundamental nature of the marriage act, while uniting husband and wife in the closest intimacy, also renders them capable of generating new life—and this as a result of laws written into the actual nature of man and of woman. And if each of these essential qualities, the unitive and the procreative, is preserved, the use of marriage fully retains its sense of true mutual love and its ordination to the supreme responsibility of parenthood to which man is called. We believe that our contemporaries are particularly capable of seeing that this teaching is in harmony with human reason."

Pope Paul VI clearly foresaw how contraceptive use would degrade women, provide public support for homosexual unions and "pass power into the hands of those public authorities who care little for the precepts of the moral law." Looking back with 40 years of hindsight is a marvelous confirmation that The Vicar of Christ is blessed with the Holy Spirit and even a biased observor would have to admit that Pope Paul VI's foresight is regretably, vastly closer to the reality of our culture and life than their own misguided musings.