Let the Celebration Continue…

“Whatever he tells you, do it,” was what Mary told the servants of the wedding in Cana. Leave it to our Mama Mary to be sensitive to the potential embarrassment to the bride and groom and their families of running short of wine. Mary turns to her son for help–with the remedy being no less than a miracle! In granting her request, Christ begins his public ministry as he changes the water into wine to allow the wedding celebration to continue—prefiguring the wedding of Christ and his bride, the Church.

There is often debate on the elaborateness of today’s wedding receptions, but I can only admire Jewish families for hosting a celebration lasting up to a week! This commitment to celebration certainly underlines the tremendous import of the vocation of marriage. The sacrament where two become one and step into their role as co-creators with God.

Couples who teach and promote natural family planning for CCL are motivated by a deep awareness of how precious this gift of fruitfulness is for married couples. That motivation expresses itself in their ministry of helping other couples to learn about and value their fertility. Because the NFP “lifestyle” is such a blessing to both the marriage and the family, our mission is to offer the very best NFP training and support to our students.  For us, our best is the sympto-thermal method (STM) which crosschecks more than one biomarker and ranks with Marquette as the most effective NFP method available. STM has a method effectiveness rate of 99.6% with “perfect use,” and a “typical use” rate of 95% to 98+% depending on how carefully it is used. This means that couples can thoughtfully discern their family size with the confidence that they are acting in understanding and cooperation with God’s design.

This confidence is reassuring–especially as life does not always go as planned. This is illustrated in this issue which relates the stories of couples who have had to change their wedding plans during the worldwide pandemic. Each couple has shared how their difficulties have only drawn them closer together. For all those who are newly married or about to be married, we welcome you to the CCL family! We want to send our reassurance that although NFP may be the “boot camp” of marriage–a little discipline yields great results–we are here to support you through a lifetime of fertility.

This means that couples can thoughtfully discern their family size with confidence that they are working in understanding and cooperation with God’s design.

Article by Katie Zulanas. Originally published in Family Foundations January 2022.