The natural meaning of marriage

Fr. Koterski again:

Natural marriage as something whose full meaning is extremely difficult to put into words, let alone be understood by young people when marrying. Yet it is something one can readily see enough of so as to desire intensely. The commitment of marriage then serves as a means by which those who do not yet know how to say well all that the act of sexual intercourse means by binding themselves to live in such a way as to grow into expressing what are the most appropriate aspects of their activities.

The desire to make one’s partner a parent seems to be more prominent in some cultures than others. A man desires to make his wife yet more of a woman by making her a mother, and a woman desires to make her husband yet more of a man by becoming a father.

A good definition of symbol from Fr. Joe Koterski, S.J.

“symbol” – a sign whose structure or activity or appearance signifies not only what it conveys by resemblance at the level of material likeness but that can lead us to a higher realm by virtue of some sort of likeness to the immaterial and spiritual reality it signifies.

"[W]hat fills and satisfies the soul consists, not in knowing much, but in our understanding the realities profoundly, and in savoring them interiorly." --St. Ignatius of Loyola.

The Ballad of the White Horse~G.K.

For not till the night's blue slate is wiped

Of it's last star utterly,

And new strange signs writ there to read,

Shall eyes with such amazement heed

As when a great man knows indeed

A greater thing than he.

The Family and the Church

Show by the witness of your lives that it is possible, like Christ, to love without reserve, and do not be afraid to make a commitment to another person! Dear families, rejoice in fatherhood and motherhood! Openness to life is a sign of openness to the future, confidence in the future, just as respect for the natural moral law frees people, rather than demeaning them! The good of the family is also the good of the Church. I would like to repeat something I have said in the past: "the edification of each individual Christian family fits into the context of the larger family of the Church which supports it and carries it with her ... And the Church is reciprocally built up by the family, a ‘small domestic church.’” Let us pray to the Lord, that families may come more and more to be small churches and that ecclesial communities may take on more and more the quality of a family!


-- Pope Benedict XVI, Homily on Croatia's Catholic Family Day

The body and happiness.

"No one can be sad while they're using wrist and hand and eye and every muscle of their body." Bardia, Till We Have Faces.

"I said not long before that work and weakness are comforts. But sweat is the kindest creature of the three--far better than philosophy as a cure for ill thoughts." Orual.