GENERAL INTRODUCTION
The
family is the most important unit of the society; it is the cradle of birth and
initial education of every individual. Creating a family is entering into a new stage of social
advancement. However, the importance given to the family in the social
parlance is based on the fact and reality of marriage which consist of conjugal
union of love. Marriage starts a family life; when marriage is validly
celebrated, a new and independent family is established. Thus, marriage lays
the foundation of the family. In other words, ‘there cannot be a family when
conjugal love has not existed’. Marriage, which includes the coupling of two
people possessing different interests, desires and needs, is a special
association given shape by social rules and laws and significantly affects
individuals’ development and self-realizations. The institution of marriage,
quite like that of the family, is universal.
Marriage
as a union of life and love is a divine creation and is ordered by the law of
the same. It begets a relationship nobler than blood ties. Thus a man and a
woman come together and become one body. The Catechism of the Catholic Church,
drawing from the 1983 code of the canon Law and Gaudium et Spes, defines this act of mutual self-giving as the
“matrimonial covenant by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a
partnership of whole life”. It added that it is by its nature ordered toward
the good of spouses and the procreation and education of offspring. This
covenant has been raised, by virtue of Christ’s institution, when it happens
between two baptized persons, to the dignity of a sacrament (CCC 1601). This
brings to bare the nature and purpose of conjugal love, and places a
sacramental seal on it between two baptized persons. Christ Our Lord has
abundantly blessed this love, which is rich in its various features, coming as
it does from the spring of Divine Love and modeled on Christ's own union with
the Church. (GS, 48)
The
covenantal union by its nature is based on the free and personal act of mutual
exchange of consent by the spouses, surrendering themselves to one another for life;
this includes the conjugal love where the sexual union between the spouses is
divinely ordained towards fruitfulness. Thus, “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen.1:28).
The purpose of marriage, based on its nature, is not just the loving union
between husband and wife, which can be summed up as companionship, but also in
the begetting and upbringing of children.[1] Conjugal
unions, the family and the resulting gift of offspring and their education are of
much importance to the church as it is to the society. Thus the church protects
family as an institution, ensuring firstly that things work out well in
matrimonial unions. In this light, Pope Paul VI, in his Humanae Vitae, offers us loving, moral pastoral guide on conjugal
love, pointing out to us that our capacity to express love needs to reflect
God’s own love for us; a love that is total, a love that is generous, a love
that is life-giving and fruitful. Humanae Vitae is remarkably adept at incorporating a fuller
understanding of conjugal love than previous documents. Its central
feature is an affirmation of the Catholic teaching that the marital embrace
should always be about both love and life: unitive and open to new life. Among the social
developments which the encyclical recognizes with some appreciation are the
insights into the value of conjugal love within a marriage relationship,
and the important role played by conjugal acts in the expression of this love
(HV2). The encyclical defines married love in part as “not confined wholly to
the loving interchange of husband and wife; it also contrives to go beyond this
to bring new life into being.”(HV9).
The
teachings of Humanae Vitae should not
be put aside or ignored. “The church has a body of teaching on life and love
that is neither repressive nor legalistic, but it is good news about human
dignity, human life, beauty, truth and love of human sexuality. And far from
being ashamed of it or putting it in brackets for fear that it will not be
accepted, this is something we need to proclaim and bear witness to.”[2] Christian
Marriage is life-long and indissoluble, reflecting the unbreakable bond between
Christ and the church. The venerable Pope Paul VI states that marriage “is in
reality the wise and provident institution of God the Creator, whose purpose was to effect in man His loving design.” Thus
marriage was instituted specifically so that the spouses may perfect each other
and generate new life. (HV8) Spouses are bound to ensure that the “use” of
their marriage complies with the Divine Will.
0.1 STATEMENT
OF THE PROBLEM
Marriage is an institution evidently present in every human
society across the different cultures and religions of the world. However above
the social conception of marriage, the church gives keen importance and care to
marriage as an institution with a sacramental dignity, and modeled on the
relationship between Christ and her bride the Church. This relationship is the
prototype on which conjugal unions are hinged. In its sacramental form, a man
and a woman come together and become one body in Christ. Therefore, marriage is
not an effect of chance or the result of the blind evolution of natural forces.
Nevertheless, ignorance and the trending contemporary practices have made us to
relax or disregard to considerable extent the dignity of marriage as a noble
institution. These practices have equally triggered a whole lot of
misconceptions about marriage and conjugal ethics. Even though with the
exchange of consent a man and a woman enter into a contract of mutual and total
self-giving, Marriage and conjugal love have the ethics that guide it and must
not be dismissed under the canopy of contemporary innovations.
0.2 AIMS
AND OBJECTIVES
This study is aimed at a theological
study of conjugal love, drawing generally from the social conception of
marriage and particularizing it in the context of the church, with specific
references to the magisterial teachings consummated, for our purpose, in the
doctrinal principles of Humane Vitae.
It would equally concern itself with the challenges of conjugal love in our
contemporary society which are resulting consequences of erroneous practices
and trends of contemporary innovations.
0.3 SCOPE
OF THE STUDY
It is imperative to state here that
this study does not pretend to be an exhaustive study of marriage. It would be
over assuming to say that marriage in its fullness is consider in this work.
Therefore this work does not consider marriage in its entirety, but is narrowed
particularly to conjugal love, with a primary concern on the theological study
of conjugal love in Humanae Vitae
with specific reference to articles 8-12 of the same document.
0.4 METHODOLOGY
It is pertinent to state that this work is not an appraisal,
and does not seek to exhaustively treat the subject matter. To ensure that the
aims and objectives of this research are achieved, we shall adopt an
expository, practical and theological method. However, where necessity
dictates, my sincere contribution would be given. This is with the view to
facilitate an easy understanding of the subject matter of this work. To this
regards, this work shall be in four chapters.
The first chapter would attempt to make initial
clarification on the different notions of Marriage; as an institution,
sacrament and a vocation, alongside the classical concepts of marriage. The
second chapter shall expose the theology of marriage, firstly considering it in
the light of Christ’s relationship with the church, and secondly exposing the
magisterial teachings, considering particular documents on marriage, and then
the place of conjugal love in marriage and the ends of marriage. The third
chapter, which is the core of this essay, would consider the doctrinal
principles in Humanae Vitae articles
8-12. The fourth chapter would take into consideration the challenges of
conjugal love and then a conclusion; reemphasizing the teachings of the church
on conjugal love.
[1] HASTINGS A, “Mission” K. Rahner, (ed), The Concise Sacramentum Mundi: An Encyclopedia of Theology, The Sea Press, New York, 1975, 912-913.
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