Let's pray instead!
Ok, so if you're familiar with Scripture, you know that this is not a new concept. In the book of Tobit (one of the Catholic books not found in protestant bibles), Tobiah and Sarah pray before "consummation" the night of their wedding for Sarah to be set free from the demons that have plagued her. As a result, Sarah is set free and Tobiah does not join Sarah's other husbands in an early grave.
The Catholic Church has always held that sex is sacred - thus the Church's teaching on sex before marriage. The sexual encounter was created by God to be shared by man and woman to physically form a communion of persons. (Much more on that in John Paul II's Theology of the Body or any breakdown of that teaching.) Essentially, it allows us to participate in a special way in the unitive and creative powers of God, creating our own little trinitarian experience of husband, wife and Christ.
That is a little lost in today's world, and I'm sure there are many out there who will take issue with the synopsis of that teaching. The point is this, though - sex is, and always has been in the eyes of the Church, a form of prayer if entered into with the right mindframe. To create a written prayer for couples...well, perhaps that's a little strange, though maybe we have reached a point where having such a prayer will remind husbands and wives (and all others), that sex is not just a pastime or entertainment. Perhaps it will remind us that the sexual union of two people has a much deeper meaning, however adamantly we may try to downplay or deny that.
Read the full article here.
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