Open to Life: Gift and Challenge

My cousin, an active duty Navy SEAL,
on the day he married his high school sweetheart.  
Keep them both in your prayers as they sacrifice to serve our country together.

It's no secret that the Catholic Church's teaching that every act of married sexuality remains open to the possibility of life is a challenging one- so challenging that many leave over it and consider it the stumbling block to the fullness of faith in the merciful love of Christ and his Church.  So, what could be more important to truly understand?

This summer Couple to Couple League and ENDOW  are diving deep into this teaching by studying the papal encyclical that clarified the teaching in modern times, Humanae Vitae.  I love ENDOW's explanation of it:

The key message of this document is understanding the inseparable dependency of authentic love and truth in human relationships. This is Pope Paul VI’s long-awaited and controversial encyclical explaining the beauty of marriage and the sanctity of human life within that bond. This study is important because it addresses many questions modern Catholics have battled in today's culture dealing with human love in relationships. It is an important topic to discuss and a great resource in understanding why the Church so strongly guides us towards honoring our dignity within intimate relationships and God's very hand in procreation.

The above link to ENDOW (Educating on the Nature and Dignity of Women) takes you to their home page where you can sign up to listen in to the free weekly discussion, with or without buying a copy of their study.  Humanae Vitae, the encyclical itself, is available for free online with a simple Google search.  Don't wait, though.  It all begins this Wednesday, July 8 at 12pm CST.