Building up a Community of love.

 The love of the couple should overflow into their children. But care should be taken to make sure that it is a shared. love. The selfless love which bound the couple together now makes itself felt in the family through the selfless love towards their children and the selfless love of children towards one another.

Love nourished by prayer

 Communion with Christ who initiated the couple into the Trinitarian family must be nourished by a life of prayer which should characterize their life together. 

An atmosphere of love nourished by daily prayer which keeps alive the divine presence in their midst is a very important means to build up a Christian family.

Christian marriage is located within the great mystery of the union of Christ with the Church (Eph.5:32). 

The sacredness of marriage comes from the fact. The content and dynamics of this Mystery is God's love translated into human love. The heart of the sacrament of matrimony is precisely here.

Catholic Morality in Human Relationships

 Introduction

When married love is  lived in its most authentic nature, it is expressed in all life situations, becoming a witness, proclaiming and realizing the Kingdom of God: "It is in married and family love... that the Christian family's participation in the prophetic, priestly and kingly mission of Christ and his Church finds expression and realisation. Therefore, love and life constitute the nucleus of the saving mission of the Christian family in the Church and for the Church"(Familiaris Consortion [FC].50). The conjugal love of the spouses is fully expressed in fatherhood and motherhood, the fruit of their love, which makes them co-responsible for the gift of life, by protecting, developing, educating and evangelizing: "Christian couples are, for each other, for their children and for their relatives, co-operators of grace and witnesses of the faith. They are the first to pass on the faith to their children and to educate them in it. By word and example they form them to a Christian and Apostolic life"

Catholic morality is about life

Our Lord Jesus said, "I come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.>>(John 10:10). Faith & baptism give us new life in Christ.That life involves far more than simply following a set of rules. It is about living as free human beings not tied down by any bandages and making LOVE our fundamental option.
Morality is a call to recognize our dignity as men and women who have received a free gift of new life in Christ. We must live accordingly. Our Lord Jesus himself clearly taught us the first principles of Catholic morality: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. In these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.>>
(Mt 22: 37-40)

JESUS CHRIST THE KING

Culture of Death

In March 1995, Pope John Paul II spoke of a profound "crisis of culture" which was against the world
... marriage & family. A mentality against life enhancing culture, which he called as "Culture of Death"
... The phrase "culture of life"
Is described by Catholic moral theologians as philosophy that human life,at all stages from conception through to natural death, is sacred. As such , a "culture of life" is claimed to be opposed to seen by it's proponents as destructive of human life.often including embryonic stem cell research, abortion , euthanasia, contraception, sex outside marriage,capital punishment,greed, degradation sadistic humiliation, narcissism, selfishness, poverty and war.
The "culture of death" degrades the human person and encourages a mentality that devalues the institution of marriage and family. When it comes to human relationships, the human person is degraded into an object of pleasure, and the sanctity of marriage is not valued thus giving approval to pre-marital sex and extra-marital affairs.

Changes in Language Instituted by the Culture of Death

•  Pre-Marital Sex is now called co-habitation
•. Contraception methods - reproduce health products
•. Abortion - woman's health issue
•. Euthanasia - death with dignity
•  Pornography - sexuality explicit material
•. Child molestation - Inter - generated love
•. Promiscuity - serial monogomy
•  Adultery - flexible monogomy
•. Partner in adultery - significant other
•. Bestiality - interspecies love

We are called to give witness to love and life in these challenging times when the "culture of death" mentality is challenging the very foundation of the Christian understanding of the human person,marriage and family.

The Church is a mother and loves her children and wants the best for you,as a mother she has a  duty to teach the Truth to her children.When we talk about Catholic Morality we need to keep these thoughts in mind that the Church teaches as a mother.

Our Fundamental Vocation is to Love

Catholic Morality should be understood in the context of our vocation to love. God created man in His own image and likeness: calling him in existence in love, through love and for love. Therefore LOVE is our fundamental vocation. Two specific ways of realizing this vocation to love : Single life (virginity/celibacy) or Marriage is the vocation of the Majority of the people.

Some terms:
There are certain terms we need to be familiar with when we talk about Christian Morality in Relationships
Chastity: Living in a world with a growing hedonistic mentality,we draw our attention to the value of Chastity. Chastity/Celibacy is not a value to be witnessed only by priests and nuns but all Christians. Catholicism defines chastity as the virtue that moderates the sexual appetite ( Summa Theologia I-II q. 60 a. 5).
Unmarried Catholics express chastity through sexual abstinence. Sexual intercourse within marriage is considered chaste when it retains the twofold significance of unity and procreation.(Human Vitae [HV]. 12)
Chastity as a moral virtue regulates the use of one's sexuality in such a way that the "I" can encounter the particular "thou" validly and lovingly, abstaining from sexual dealings which will harm the encounter.

Sexuality: Sexuality is not something related only to the body,but something that affects the whole person in the depth of his/her being, where his/her "I" is discovered. We have the genetic and the generic component of our sexuality, and Generic-affective and personal dimension.   

Christian view of the human body

° Gen. 1, 27: Human beings are created in the image of God
° Dignity of human person, God created man in his own image and likeness (Gen.1:27). Hence, body is the medium or sign that reveal God's love, power, goodness etc.therfore body is very sacred.
• In this context, the vocation and dignity of the human person should be clearly understood.
° Mature sexual behavior comes from a proper  understanding of the sacredness of our sexuality.
° Problem today- Morals have been corrupted, modern communication media only adds to this corruption- influence of films. T.V. serials, print media and opinion polls.
° We need to beware of the influence of "Hedonistic Culture".
° True human person is sacred and not for use and abuse.
° Sincere intention alone is not enough: life must be based on objective standards.
° All our relationships should be guided by the universal norm of love.
° The general and basic principles in this domain are: sex has a finality, which determines its morality.

Mutual self-giving and procreation make up the finality.
This finality is preserved only in marriage. Therefore, general sex is justified only in marriage and consequently the use of sex outside marriage is immoral.

Respecting Relationship Boundaries:

Every human relationship is moderated by "relationship boundaries". We need to respect persons & their boundaries. The Church teaches that sexual union is permitted only in a spousal relationship,all sexual encounters outside marriage are immoral. Under the given topic we are going to discuss briefly just three topics namely:
Premarital Sex
Extra-Marital Affairs
Contraception.

PRE-MARITAL SEXUAL RELATIONS

Entered by those unmarried or in preparation for marriage.
Why is Pre-Marital Sex is Wrong?
1. They behave as spouses before they become.
     Sexual intercourse is a "typical expression"
     and unique to marital Union. Hence to   
     perform it they should be married couples,
2.  They distort and reduce the marriage  
      commitment.
*     The decisive act of self-giving and   
       acceptance is valid if expressed in 
       particular moment of time (celebration or
       sacrament) This commitment is not a
       private affair but has to be made publicly.
3.    They point to a false language.
*.     Sexual act is a language which is deep and
       Expressed between two married people.
*.     Sexual interaction uses a deep and 
       exclusive language. In PMS they use a 
       language and do not mean it. Therefore, it
       is cheating. They give their bodies but not 
       themselves. Therefore, no self-giving. It is
       dissection of the person, they give their
       body but not their inner selves.
4.   They act intentionally against the 
      Procreative and of marriage - use of 
      contraception 
5.   One cannot use persons, but only things. 
      The sexual gesture is done without any
      interior meaning.
6.   Such actions leave in them a deep sense of
      psychological incompleteness.
*.    whole person not involved.
*.    develop a 'playboy and playgirl psychology'

For those preparing for marriage the Church
would say: Genuine Love is tested by its 
openness to make sacrifices.