Open to Life?

[gardenswithkids]

As to the meaning of “open to life”, I searched through some encyclicals to find that phrase used in context. I think some people use “open to life” out of context and it can confuse people, especially discussed along with NFP. Some contrast published high effectiveness rates of NFP and falsely conclude less effective birth control methods are more “open to life”; other people think NFP is “open to life” because they think it doesn’t effectively prevent pregnancy. Here are some of the encyclicals and Church documents regarding conjugal life where you can find it used in context.

Familiris Consorsio tells of how contraception leads… to the refusal to be open to life. (Part of this quote is also sited in the Catechism CCC 2370)

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/j...-ii_exh_19811122_familiaris-consortio_en.html
When couples, by means of recourse to contraception, separate these two meanings that God the Creator has inscribed in the being of man and woman and in the dynamism of their sexual communion, they act as “arbiters” of the divine plan and they “manipulate” and degrade human sexuality-and with it themselves and their married partner-by altering its value of “total” self-giving. Thus the innate language that expresses the total reciprocal self-giving of husband and wife is overlaid, through contraception, by an objectively contradictory language, namely, that of not giving oneself totally to the other. This leads not only to a positive refusal to be open to life but also to a falsification of the inner truth of conjugal love, which is called upon to give itself in personal totality.
*When, instead, by means of recourse to periods of infertility, the couple respect the inseparable connection between the unitive and procreative meanings of human sexuality, they are acting as “ministers” of God’s plan and they “benefit from” their sexuality according to the original dynamism of “total” selfgiving, without manipulation or alteration.(90) *

Humanae Vitae used the phrase “open to the transmission of life.” The word “transmission” helps add to my understanding of what the Church means. http://www.ewtn.com/library/ENCYC/P6HUMANA.HTM

Nonetheless the Church, calling men back to the observance of the norms of the natural law, as interpreted by their constant doctrine, teaches that each and every marriage act (quilibet matrimonii usus) must remain open to the transmission of life.

And from the Catechism in CCC2366

Fecundity is a gift, an end of marriage

, for conjugal love naturally tends to be fruitful. A child does not come from outside as something added on to the mutual love of the spouses, but springs from the very heart of that mutual giving, as its fruit and fulfillment. So the Church, which is “on the side of life,” teaches that “it is necessary that each and every marriage act remain ordered per se to the procreation of human life.” “This particular doctrine, expounded on numerous occasions by the Magisterium, is based on the inseparable connection, established by God, which man on his own initiative may not break, between the unitive significance and the procreative significance which are both inherent to the marriage act.”

The phrase “open to life” might be found in other parts of these or other documents. I personally prefer the phrase “gift of self” which is also found in these Church documents.

While NFP can be misused, I don’t think it is misused very easily for very long, especially if the couple is aware of other rules for marital chastity and practices them, and prays. The original poster presented what seems like logical reasons for using NFP to avoid pregnancy at the present time. I’m guessing that he might be overly scrupulous and discouraged about his lack of “openess to life” since he doesn’t feel open to more children right now. I have been at that point in my past, and some people have serious reasons to avoid pregnancy that will not change short of a miraculous healing. I really encourage the op to read the Church documents, especially Familiaris Consortio, and consider that phrase in context of the rest of the document.