ARCHBISHOP NAUMANN’S CALENDAR

CFNEK High School Art Invitational awards — Savior

March 5

Pastoral visit — St. Patrick Parish, Scranton

March 6

Parish Council meeting — chancery

March 7

Eucharistic adoration — Bishop Ward High School, Kansas City, Kansas

Ethics Council meeting — chancery

March 8

Confirmation — Queen of the Holy Rosary, Wea

March 9

Holy Trinity Women’s Bible study — Holy Trinity School, Lenexa

Priests continuing education — Savior

Confirmation — St. Francis de Sales, Lansing

March 11

Anointing Mass and reception — Curé of Ars, Leawood

St. John Paul II, in his theology of the body, reminded us of the language of sexual intimacy, where a man and woman give themselves physically, totally to each other. This beautiful physical expression of love can only be true when the couple has pledged to seek their spouse’s good in every other aspect of their lives.

God did not make some huge mistake when he designed the physical expression of complete and total love to be the instrument where human beings can become co-creators with Our Lord of a new human life. It is in the context of the marriage covenant that new life can be welcomed into the optimal environment for a child to flourish.

This is a very different understanding of sexual intimacy than the one that is offered to us by our culture. The hookup culture trivializes the meaning of sexual intimacy. When we use God’s gifts in ways that they were not intended, we should not be surprised that sex simply for pleasure leads not to happiness but to loneliness, anxiety and depression.

Sadly, many young adults today do not aspire to marriage because they have not seen happy marriages and experienced joyful families. Part of the reason that Christianity spread so rapidly 2,000 years ago in a pagan culture that misunderstood sex and love in similar ways to our secular society was the witness of joyful Christian married couples.

I want to thank all the married couples in the archdiocese who are striving daily to live their vows to love each other faithfully, fruitfully and forever. There are no perfect marriages, no perfect families. There are, however, many very beautiful marriages and happy families.

One way to honor the life and ministry of Deacon Tony Zimmerman would be for couples to choose to invest in their marriages by making an Evermore in Love retreat. Our marriage and family life office offers many other resources and experiences to help couples develop the skills to grow deeper in their love for each other. If nothing else, make plans for a date night.

Our church and our society need your example of faithful, fruitful and forever love. We need your marriage to be an icon of God’s love for us. We want you to build your dream home so that you can be a beacon of God’s love in the world.