Module 6 is oriented towards helping students grasp the essential dimensions of human love in the divine plan, informing and preparing them for Christian Sacramental marriage and family life.
Jesus’ vision of Sacramental Marriage; human love in the divine plan; benefits of Sacramental Marriage - health and happiness; building a civilisation of love; recognising God’s call and trusting in God’s power; intimacy, sex and holiness; open to life and fruitfulness; proximate marriage preparation - identifying spiritual and moral values; prayer focus: putting on the armour of God (Eph. 6:10-20); Saints Louis and Zelie Martin; reflection on the Nuptial Mass texts.
In presenting and proposing the beauty, goodness and truth of Jesus’ vision for Sacramental marriage and family life, as laid out in the Church’s Magisterium, with particular reference to the Theology of the body of Pope John Paul II, students will explore the benefits - to physical, emotional, relational and spiritual health - of living out human love in the divine plan, and recognising in it a vocation to holiness worthy to commit one’s life.
Teachers will lead students to discover how the human person, as male and female in its complementarity, is created in the image of God who, as ‘communion of persons’, is Trinity. This doctrinal foundation will assist students to appreciate the magnificence of the opportunity that Matrimony affords them not only for their personal happiness and the establishment of their own family, but in no less a task than to build a civilisation of love. They will identify in this their role to be agents of hope for the future in this world, for “As the family goes, so goes the nation, and so goes the whole world in which we live” (30 November 1986, Perth | John Paul II), and in eternity.
Students will be inspired to understand and embrace the spiritual and moral values needed to live out God’s plan for this vocation in a fruitful and fulfilling way. They will be encouraged to do this by way of personal and practical character development with regard to dating and proximate marriage preparation. Teachers will be, on the one hand, unambiguous in the clarity of their articulation of Catholic teaching, and on the other, very sensitive in their pastoral support for students in the ongoing journey towards full personal integration through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The prayer focus for this module will acknowledge the need to take up arms in the spiritual battle between good and evil (Eph. 6:10-18), in particular where falsehood undermines Christian anthropology, as students take up the countercultural call to shine as lights in the darkness.
A case study will be made of Saints Louis and Zelie Martin, and a focus on the prayers of Tobias and Sarah (cf. Tob. 4:4-8), among other texts and prayers used in Nuptial Masses, will provide material for students to analyse the virtues of Sacramental Marriage.
Research assignment offering an Apologia, a defence of Catholic teaching, in relation to ONE of the following areas of sexuality or life matters:
Evert, J. (2014). Saint John Paul the Great: His Five Loves. Totus Tuus Press.
Hahn, S., & Todd. (2018). Reasons to believe : how to understand, explain, and defend the catholic faith. Darton, Longman & Todd.
Pope John Paul II. 30 November 1986, Perth | www.vatican.va.
https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/homilies/1986/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_19861
130_perth-australia.html
Pope John Paul II. (1997). The theology of the body : human love in the divine plan. Pauline Books & Media.
Sri, E. P. (2015). Men, women, and the mystery of love : practical insights from John Paul II’s love and responsibility.
Servant.
Under development TBA