This Always Stumps Me

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Holly3278

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Hey everyone. A person asks me, “Is sex okay after menopause or after a hysterectomy?” in an attempt to disprove that sex should always be open to life. How do I answer such a question? :confused:
 
As long as you are alone with your spouse, sex is ok anytime!

Except while driving.
 
Menopause and hysterectomy are not acts deliberately undertaken to alter, thwart or distort a natural human act of intercourse. Assming that the hysterectomy was not done for the purpose of contraception :bigyikes: , the resulting inability to have children is not an impediment to a couple engaging in “a natural human act of intercourse.”

As for menopause: Think: Sarah, Elizabeth.
 
I had a tubal three years ago and I still have sex with my husband. I wasn’t Catholic then, though, so it isn’t a sin.

Scout :tiphat:
 
Even before menopause, a woman is fertile for only a few days of the month, so a woman being fertile is not in itself a requirement for licit intercourse.
 
oldfogey said:
Even before menopause, a woman is fertile for only a few days of the month, so a woman being fertile is not in itself a requirement for licit intercourse.
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Ah yeah I see what you mean.
 
Holly3278 said:
Hey everyone. A person asks me, “Is sex okay after menopause or after a hysterectomy?” in an attempt to disprove that sex should always be open to life. How do I answer such a question? :confused:
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Abraham and Sara in the Bible have a child when they’re well past the usual age. The point? God will do what he wants if we let him. Just because you don’t think you can have children does’t mean you won’t get a surprise.
 
Holly3278 said:
Ah yeah I see what you mean.
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I think you would really enjoy Christopher West’s cheeky little book, *Good News About Sex and Marriage: *Answers to your honest questions about Catholic Teaching. It’s in Q&A format and very sharp.
 
LittleRose said:
Abraham and Sara in the Bible have a child when they’re well past the usual age. The point? God will do what he wants if we let him. Just because you don’t think you can have children does’t mean you won’t get a surprise.
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unless of course, the uterus is missing.

Thanks for asking the question Holly. I have been curious about that too. I had a hysterectomy over 10 yrs ago…and have been happy ever since.
 
CCC
2361 "Sexuality, by means of which man and woman give themselves to one another through the acts which are proper and exclusive to spouses, is not something simply biological, but concerns the innermost being of the human person as such. It is realized in a truly human way only if it is an integral part of the love by which a man and woman commit themselves totally to one another until death."143
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Sexuality is a gift to be enjoyed. Most women do not remain fertile until death.

CCC
2399 The regulation of births represents one of the aspects of responsible fatherhood and motherhood. Legitimate intentions on the part of the spouses do not justify recourse to morally unacceptable means (for example, direct sterilization or contraception).
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Sterilization is only a sin if it is done to prevent pregnancy, not treat medical issues.
 
This is why it is not proper to say that sex must always be open to life. This statement as a lot of assumptions holding it up. Rather it is more proper to say that sex must normatively be open to the potential of life. Phrasing it this way accounts for those who are beyond the normal child baring years and also those who have a medical condition. However it does not leave the door so far open that one could argue for the use of contraceptives stating that it is still open to life because “God will work as He wills.”
 
Holly,

I don’t want to bogart your thread, but I have to comment on your image - it’s the Lanciano miracle, right? I saw it in person this last May. AWESOME!!!
 
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