1 + 1 = 1?

In his March 5, 1980 general audience, John Paul II said, In Genesis 4:1, “becoming one flesh, the man and the woman experience in a particular way the meaning of their body.” His translation of Gn 4:1-2 says, “Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, I have begotten a man with the help of the Lord. And again she bore his brother Abel.” The New American translation, however, says, “The man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain.” I find this contrast interesting. But at any rate, the act of conjugal union is one of knowing as well as one of relations.

In the conjugal act, the man and the woman become one in mind and body. John Paul says, “In this way, together they become almost the one subject of that act and that experience, while remaining, in this unity, two really different subjects.” Thus, out of their love for each other, they come together and participate in creation, conceiving children with the help of the Lord. They become on in body and flesh, but stay separate as persons.

I am reminded here of the love that holds together the Holy Trinity. What is love if it is not communicated? Thus (as I understand it), the Father communicates his love to the Son, who in turn communicates his love back to the Father. And out of that great love, the Holy Spirit comes to be. Well in a similar manner, a strong way that a man and a woman communicate their love for each other is through the conjugal act, the act of sexual self-donation. And through that great love, they produce a child. This, I think, justifies John Paul II when he refers to the body as being a manifestation of the love of God. Of this, he said, “By means of [its] corporality [Humanity] becomes a visible sign of the economy of truth and love, which has its source in God himself” (General Audience of February 20, 1980).

How, I now ask, is this great love shown when two people have relations outside of marriage? I also ask, how can this great love be made manifest when a form of birth control is used? And, finally, how can this great love be shown when two people of the same gender come together, contradicting nature and creation?

We are but a speck of dust in the universe. Why are we so fortunate to understand what we do about creation and our participation in it? And why must we constantly belittle this great privilege of ours?