Bodies do not love, pleasure does not love, nor does desire love. Love originates from within, from the depths of the heart. Bodies are the transmitters of that message of intimacy and depth of the being. Thus, sexuality is defined in a warm and loving language that takes as its content that which each one feels with respect to the other.
Without ceasing to be an individual, each being opens up to their partner completely. Personal and total delivery is exemplified through their bodies. A self that is body, soul, and spirit enters in communion with the other in its three dimensions: physical, psychological and spiritual.
Sexuality is not love but the language of love. It is not human. A sexuality without love is not human because it does not integrate the three dimensions of the person. This makes sexuality basically transparent of the two lives, two souls and two bodies; transparency of two truths, two loves, two sincerities that open mutually. The transparency of the naked bodies is not a sign of the daring and provocative, rather the sacred sign of two hearts and two clean lives. When there is any lie within us (adverse sentiment, not expressed, at the moment being shared) it makes nudity lose its naturalness, thus arises the shame Adam and Eve (cf. Gen 3, 7).
The transparency of sexuality will make the physical signs of the couple accompanied by words of love, which are filled with the sense of the same sign. It's one of those unique moments when the word becomes tender, loving, and sweet and without aggressiveness. A physical delivery that is not accompanied by the tenderness of the word, is mysterious, murky, tarnished. It is the moment to mutually express how much they want and love, how much each is needed, how happy each feels living next to each other so you can know each other fully!
Not in vain, the word of God called the sexual relationship with a somewhat rare term for our language today: know. As expressed in biblical text with which we started the reflection, “The man knew Eve, his wife.” All delivery of the spouses must be a full and mutual understanding because it is a revelation of one to the other as they are and as they want to be. Knowing is to enter into the being of the other. It is to empathize with the other, it is to discover the truth of the other. We love and we know each other also with the body.
To talk in couples
1. Do we talk about our sex?
2. What do we feel when we deliver ourselves to the other?
3. How do we see our sexual behavior?
4. In what must we improve sexually to grow in our relationship?
To pray together
Lord,
We give you thanks and we praise,
because you are the God of love.
You have created us, male and female,
with endless craving for love.
You want that our intimate delivery
is a sacrament,
a sign that you love us.
And also,
that our physical delivery
is a sacrament from within ourselves,
a sign that expresses
the language of our love.
Thank you, Lord,
because through that delivery
You let us know each other
every day more and better,
and above all,
Thank you because, in that with our love,
We mutually support and aid.
And furthermore, our children are born;
the most precious possession.
Thank you, Lord
Amen.
Called to be faithful
“The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and
gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and
faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands (Ex-34, 6-7).
Remain faithful until death,
and I will give you the Crown of life
(Apoc. 2: 10).
I promise to be faithful both in prosperity
as in the face of adversity... all of my life”
(Roman ritual).
God is rich in true love, hence his love will last for all generations. Christians must remain faithful to the Lord, to death, to receive the crown of life. Fidelity focuses on the large and small things of our existence. For spouses this fidelity is the framework of the marriage Covenant.
In the sacrament of marriage you have given a word: promise to be faithful both in prosperity and adversity, in health and in sickness: Faithfulness is what keeps and attains the word given to the other person.
Now, what is it to be faithful in marriage? What is it to keep and attain the word given in the sacrament? Many people think that being unfaithful is to forget the marriage Covenant, to share with a third person your body.
Obviously this understanding isn't bad, but we will see that it is even much deeper. Jesus did not abolish the not to kill, but He gave it a more positive perspective, love your enemies. We will delve further to reach the “be faithful” in marriage.
• You are my owner: Being faithful is to live the permanent reality that each is the other, under the mutual donation made before the altar. Without fidelity, to be the possession of another, when shared with a third person, marriage becomes simply a figure, being not only an act against the sixth commandment, but also an action against justice, since there is in the body it’s possession of the spouse. Therefore, to share with a third person is stealing. No one can serve two masters, or one or the other, Jesus said. What more?
Read again the words of Jesus: I say that you who are looking at a woman with evil desire has committed adultery in his heart. We add to this: or a male. Because at that moment, is it not the husband of the wife? It is worth discussion, isn't it?
• I married you to make you happy: We agreed that fidelity goes way beyond what we usually think. What does it matter to not “cheat” on your spouse if in everyday life you do not try to make them happy because of s bad mood or a lack of interest? On the day of the marriage each pledged to make the other happy. Therefore, every gesture, word or failure which does not contribute to the other being happy, are transformed into crumbs of infidelity to the marriage Covenant. Think about it.
• Moreover, I married you to make you eternally happy: Every spouse should be concerned with being in grace to grow with the spouse, trying to make him/her eternally happy by means of Devoutness.
There are many other elements that are signs of fidelity:
• Dialogue: If the sincere thoughts and feelings not fully shared, something is hidden from the other. Is this faithfulness?
• Joy: Another of the signs of the desire to be faithful to the engagement is to always look to bring joy to the spouse and family. Infidelity goes arm in arm with bitterness. Fidelity is expressed in joy.
• Interest in the other: Being faithful is also to worry and take care of the spouse, their interests and problems.
• The Cross: If everything were not enough, remember that as spouses you promised to be faithful “in adversity and sickness.” Therefore, fidelity claims that each help the other to bear their sufferings, their sorrows, their falls. In the end, to be faithful is to help carry the cross, as the Cyrene helped Jesus.
To talk in couples
1. Are we truly faithful in all that this implies?
2. What can we begin to do to enhance our faithfulness?
To pray together
Thank you, Lord,
Because