A personal witness to Natural Family Planning
“A child is not something owed to one, but is a gift. The "supreme gift of marriage" is a human person.”
-Catechism of the Catholic Church CCC 2378
The Catholic Church condones sexual intimacy between a husband and wife only when the act remains,“Open to life” by abstaining from contraceptives (birth control in oral and physical forms):
“The spouses' union achieves the twofold end of marriage: the good of the spouses themselves and the transmission of life.”
-CCC 2363
However, the Church DOES NOT require families to conceive and bare as many children as possible, but encourages the “regulation of procreation” as long as: “their desire is not motivated by selfishness but is in conformity with the generosity appropriate to responsible parenthood.” (CCC 2368). Thus Natural Family Planning or NFP combines charting fertile indicators (hormone level, temperature and/or cervical mucus) with abstaining or enjoying intimacy during peak baby-conceiving times. So basically Natural Family Planning uses evidence based data collection such as a women’s basal temperatures (a drop in temperature followed by a high temperature means ovulation), cervical mucus (discharge that is egg-white and stretches means ovulation) and/or hormone levels (high LH and estrogen levels means ovulation) so couples may make informed decisions about conceiving a child without altering their bodies natural rhythms with contraceptives.
But why? Why refuse convenient birth control methods that allow for sex whenever with less consequences?
The religious answer of honoring your body and nourishing your soul especially in the God-given covenant of marriage, is beautiful relayed in Saint John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body”. The former pope gave 129 lectures between 1979 and 1984 explaining: “Christ Appeals to the Begining”, “Christ Appeals to the Human Heart”, “Christ Appeals to the Resurrection”, “The Dimension of Covenant and Grace”, “The Dimension of Sign” and “He gave them the Law of Life as Their Inheritance” (as outlined and read on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops at: https://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/marriage-and-family/natural-family-planning/catholic-teaching/theology-of-the-body)
Since I am not a theologian , all I offer is my personal testimony how NFP brings me New Faith Promised.
June 30, 2018, two young twenty-something’s exchange vows in a Protestant-Catholic hybrid wedding (complete with a pastor and a priest) in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains (outside of Asheville, NC). The cradle Catholic and recent convert from Presbyterian faith face a choice after the jubilant Wedding of Cana like celebration following the ceremony: to abstain, consummate, or to use contraceptives. For on their honeymoon in a cruise ship, the bride ovulated, and they were fully aware. “Use condoms” her mother (Protestant) and mother-in-law (Catholic) mother advised. Yet, the newlyweds knew that they wanted to begin their union in union with the Church’s teachings; so decided to “offer it up” especially after not being the most chaste prior to marriage. The unblushing bride boldly desired to complete their vows with the “marital act” believing that “it takes some couples years to get pregnant.” Thus, their firstborn son, Matthew, meaning “gift from God” was conceived as a honeymoon baby. Sure beginning a marriage pregnant with both spouses working presented challenges: the wife even lost her new teaching job due to her state. Yet when a sudden death in the family occurred four months postpartum, the child gave such life-giving hope to the family. God’s perfect timing gave light in the dark grieving time. If the couple waited two years into marriage as planned, then the new grandmother who suggested condoms wouldn’t have professed, “thank you for having this child.”
Natural Family Planning, really gives New Faith Promised. By forgoing contraceptives, I feel more fully feminine, in tune with my body and fertility; as well as enjoy true life-giving intimacy with my husband. Three years of marriage yielded two sons with the second planned (meaning we successful utilized NFP postpartum). I am aligned spiritually and physically with the sacrifice of periodic abstinence surrendering to God’s timing for His children I am honored to care for.
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