|
Life Giving Love Workshop
Previous - Holy Spouses Picture • Contents • Next
- Holy Spouses Society
Next Workshops scheduled at St. Joachim Parish,
Madera, CA (559) 673-3290:
English (Life-Giving Love):
October 16-17, 2010.
Español (La Familia Natural Vive Mejor): 6-7 noviembre 2010.
Next Workshop scheduled at Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, Bakersfield, CA (661) 323-3148:
English (Life-Giving Love):
October 2-3, 2010.
Español (La Familia Natural Vive Mejor): 28-29 agosto 2010.
The contraceptive mentality in so prevalent and so
deeply rooted in current society that it is presupposed by a majority
of what is communicated in the mass media, in social services,
in education, in politics and in the medical profession. While
it is somewhat known that the Catholic Church does not approve
of artificial contraception, very few know or understand the reasons
for this. A majority of Catholics have been lead to ignore, distort
or dismiss Church teaching under the slogan of “follow your
conscience.” Even those who attempt to teach Natural Family
Planning in faithfulness to the Church often find themselves lonely
or unsupported. The world pressures them to give up and buy into
the contraceptive mentality that Natural Family Planning simply
is not a viable option because it requires sacrifice and openness
to life.
To a culture accustomed to quick sound bites and
facile yet uncompromising expressions of opinion, it is not easy
to find a manner of communicating the real significance of sexuality
and the inseparability of life and love. Homilies, marriage preparation,
religious education programs, and individual counseling can all
be vehicles for this teaching, but they are not sufficient and
are seldom supported by materials and curricula that treat this
theme in any depth. For this reason it was decided in 1985 to develop
a two day workshop called in Spanish La Familia Natural Vive
Mejor and later given the English title Life-Giving Love.
DESCRIPTION
Life-Giving Love is a Catholic workshop
on sexuality and natural and responsible parenthood. It is presented
all day Saturday and Sunday by Catholic couples and a priest, and
is offered to married and engaged couples as well as interested
individuals. The 1981 Apostolic Exhortation on the Family, Familiaris
Consortio, and The Catechism of the Catholic Church are
the basic doctrinal sources used by the presenting team. After
the majority of the eleven talks, the participants discuss the
concepts in small groups and present a resume of their discussions
to the whole group. After three of the more personal talks, however,
instead of group discussion the married or engaged couples present
are led to dialogue between the two of them about their own manner
of living out God’s plan in the intimacy of their marriage.
The first three talks present the basic catechetical
principles of the human vocation to love in God’s image,
either through marriage or virginity; the sacramental marriage
covenant with its two essential and inseparable ends of union in
love and openness to procreation; and the family’s call to
be a communion of persons, a domestic church, in which children
are valued and educated with love and responsibility. Talk four
then exposes and summarizes the world’s trends that directly
attack this plan of God.
In talks five and six, the presenting couples share
more deeply their personal experience that verifies the Church’s
teaching with respect to sexuality being a total self-giving, to
abstinence being another expression of love, and to co-responsibility
regarding the decision to have children.
The seventh talk conveys the Church’s teaching
about responsible parenthood, the formation of conscience, sufficient
and insufficient reasons for seeking to postpone another pregnancy,
and moral and immoral means for doing so. Talk eight then shows
how artificial contraception damages physical and emotional health,
the relationship of the couple, the children, society, one’s
soul, and the Church itself. In a parallel manner, through personal
sharing and witness, the ninth talk presents the advantages of
natural methods and abstinence at each of these same levels.
The tenth talk gives a very basic introduction to
natural methods of family planning and offers information on available
classes. The final talk is on the mission of family, and it issues
a challenge to build a new world of faith and love by living our
vocations.
The spiritual context of the workshop includes prayer
and song, Mass together and an opportunity for confession. The
dialogue questions for the couples challenge them to live in greater
intimacy and to make moral and generous decisions regarding openness
to life.
PATRONAGE OF THE HOLY SPOUSES
The Holy Spouses, Mary and Joseph, are the patrons
and models for the Life-Giving Love workshop. The Holy
Spouses image described above usually hangs over the presenting
table. In the first talk it is explained that they are our patrons
because their virginal love nurtured Jesus Christ, the greatest
of all children. In talk five their virginity is presented as an
expression of total self-giving. Their love as husband and wife
is deeper than that of any other couple, so that they were chosen
to form the home of love suitable for nurturing Jesus. In all this
they are proof that at least in certain circumstances abstinence
is meant to be an expression of love between husband and wife.
Participants in the workshop are introduced to the
Holy Spouses Rosary presented on a previous
page. They pray it in community at the end of both days and are
given a prayer
card of it to take
home with the encouragement to pray it together. The final talk
invites all couples present to make a commitment to enroll in the
Holy Spouses Society, which will be explained
on a subsequent page.
Previous - Holy Spouses Picture • Contents • Next
- Holy Spouses Society
|
