FCCO Newsletter_V2n2_Issue04 Newsletter V2n2 Issue04
User Manual: FCCO-Newsletter_V2n2_Issue04
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What Is True Love
By : Teresa Kenney, APRN, CFCP
We all desire true love. It is inscribed in our nature as human
persons designed by a Loving Creator. The Catechism of the
Catholic Church teaches us: “Each of the two sexes is an
image of the power and tenderness of God, with equal dignity
though in a different way. The union of man and woman
in marriage is a way of imitating in the esh the Creator’s
generosity and fecundity: ‘Therefore a man leaves his father
and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become
one esh.’ All human generations proceed from this union.”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church 2335)
Unfortunately, our society has a distorted view of what true
love really is. When we think of falling in love, most of us
think of the emotions we have
towards the other person and
the way they make us feel. We
have all seen it in the movies—
the romance, fate, one true
love and physicial chemistry.
Many people who fall in love just as easily fall into bed, only
later to end up being hurt and moving on to the next person
who makes them feel “in love.” This can lead to a cycle of
depression, guilt, and consequences like sexually transmitted
diseases and unintended pregnancy. So, what is the answer to
nding real and lasting love?
The Catholic Church, which desires our ultimate happiness,
gives us a deeper understanding of the word Love. John Paul
II tells us the most essential thing to love is the value of the
person… “This is the basis on which the will of the loving
subject strives for the true good of the beloved person, the
entire and perfect good, the absolute good, which is identical
with happiness.” Therefore, love is not just a feeling; it is an
act of the will. It is a decision to give oneself to another person
entirely. Christ tells us “Love one another even as I have loved
you (John 13:34). Jesus loved us by giving Himself completely
even unto death on a cross. The Cross is the center and
pinnacle of our Christian life. In order to see love in its pure
and truest form, we need to look at the Cross.
In our culture, much of what we view as Continued on page 3
The egg is a wonderful symbol of birth and rebirth—it is an apparently lifeless object out of which
comes life. Because of this, it is a symbol of Christ’s Resurrection and is seen most often at
Easter. In 2006, a necropolis under the Vatican revealed an infant who had been buried holding
an egg to symbolize his parents’ hope in his resurrection, because of Christ’s Resurrection.
Legend has it that St. Mary Magdalene went to Rome and met with the Emperor Tiberius to tell
him about the Resurrection of Jesus. She held out an egg to him as a symbol of this, and he
scoffed, saying that a man could no more rise from the dead than that egg that she held could
turn scarlet. The egg turned deep red in her hands, and this is the origin of Easter eggs and the
reason why Mary Magdalene is often portrayed holding a scarlet egg.
Another level of symbolism is that the egg represents Creation, the elements, and the world
itself— with the shell representing the rmament, the vault of the sky where the ery stars
lie; the thin membrane symbolizing the air; the white symbolizing the waters; and the yolk
representing earth. [Taken from sheaters.com]
What is True Love
Seasons of
Change
Facts About Your
Fertility
Our Lady of
Guadalupe
Resources
1
2
3
3
4
ISSUE 4 4/15/2010
Most of us realize that
menstrual cycles are not
exactly regular. In fact, the
majority of women who state
their cycles come every month
actually have somewhat
irregular menstrual cycles. In
other words, the percentage of
women who ovulate on day 14,
which makes a 28-30 day cycle,
is only around 15 percent.
Most women ovulate sometime
between day 10 and day
19. This means that the
actual cycle length varies
from month to month. The
timing of ovulation divides
the menstrual cycle into two
phases—the preovulatory
phase and the postovulatory
phase.
The preovulatory phase is
highly variable in its length.
The preovulatory phase
begins with the rst day of the
menstrual period and ends
with the point of ovulation or
Peak Day.
The postovulatory phase is
just the opposite. It is very
stable in its length. The
postovulatory phase starts
with the Peak Day (or point of
ovulation) and ends with the
last day before the menstrual
ow. The average length of
a postovulatory phase is 9
to 13 days. However, in the
individual woman, there is
great consistency in the length
of the postovulatory phase
of the cycle. What makes
some women have
short cycles and
some women have
regular cycles and
some women have
long cycles is the
variability in the
preovulatory phase.
The biological marker called
cervical mucus is what allows
us to determine the phases
of the menstrual cycle. The
cervical mucus gives us a
foreshadowing of the ovulation
event. It can be described
as a biological valve—when
the woman observes
cervical mucus, it tells her
that the valve is open and
that achieving a pregnancy
is possible and, when the
woman is dry or is not seeing
any mucus, it tells her the
biological valve is closed and
that she is infertile.
After menses, a woman is
usually dry or not seeing any
cervical mucus. When a follicle
begins to develop, starting the
process of ovulation, then the
woman will begin to see mucus
on the tissue when she wipes.
The mucus begins as sticky,
cloudy mucus and then
progresses over the next
several days to become
stretchy, clear, and slippery or
lubricative. This type of mucus
is called Peak type and is
indicative that ovulation is
occurring.
Once ovulation happens, then
the mucus goes back to sticky
and cloudy or to dry for the
remainder of the cycle. The
last day a women sees Peak-
type mucus (stretchy, clear,
and lubricative) is the Peak
Day. It is a very accurate
indicator of the time that
ovulation occurred.
Why is this important to
know?
Well, for a married
couple, this allows them to
predict the onset of ovulation
very precisely; therefore, they
can choose to achieve or
avoid a pregnancy. They are
able to know each and every
day whether they are fertile or
infertile. For all of us women,
it allows us not only to be able
to pinpoint the day of ovulation
but also to know exactly when
menses is going to start. No
more guess work, and you can
always be prepared.
God has inscribed in our
human bodies the ability
to plan our families in
accordance with His will.
Having this knowledge and
education not only empowers
Seasons of Change
And of what should
we be afraid?
Our captain on this
battleeld is
Christ Jesus.
We have
discovered what
we have to do.
Christ has bound
our enemies for us
and weakened
them that they
cannot overcome us
unless we so
choose to let them.
— St. Catherine of Sienna
women and couples to use
these biological markers in
order to plan their family, but
it empowers women to care
for their reproductive health
by using this information
to monitor, evaluate, and
maintain their gynecological
health.
To learn how to chart your
cycles, please visit our website
fertilitycare.org. There you will
be able to nd a FertilityCare
Practitioner to teach you the
Creighton Model FertilityCare
System. This system once
learned can be used for your
entire reproductive life!
What is True Love?
The Catholic
Church, which
desires our ultimate
happiness, gives
us a deeper
understanding of
the word Love.
John Paul II tells us
the most essential
thing to love is the
value of the person...
[L]ove is not just
a feeling; it is an
act of the will. It is
a decision to give
oneself to another
person entirely.
“May you acquire the
custom of concerning
yourself every day about
others, and give yourself to
the task so much that you
forget you even exist.”
St. Josemaria Escriva
Continued from page 1
love is selsh. We are using
the other person for our
own physical desires and
emotional feelings. If a
guy truly loves a girl and
pressures her to have sex,
this is not an act of love. He
is not desiring what is good
for his beloved but using her
for his own pleasure. This is
not love; it is lust. Lust is the
desire for sexual pleasure
at the expense of the other.
This tendency toward sin
is because of original sin.
The good news is there is
hope. God has inscribed
in our hearts, minds, and
body the truth of the
dignity of the human
person: “Because of
the redemption that
is offered to us in
Christ, our hearts can be
renewed. Because Christ’s
death on the cross won for
us the grace not only to be
saved, but also to transform
our fallen inclinations…they
can experience the authentic,
safe, self-donating love that
we are all seeking”(TOB for
Teens).
Authentic love is free. If we
are a slave to our passions
and sexual desires, then we
are not truly free. Much of
our society is enslaved by
some disordered passion
whether it is addiction to sex,
power, money, food, drugs,
or pornography. How do we
control these temptations
around us? The Church calls
us to the virtue of chastity.
According to the Catholic
Church, chastity includes
an apprenticeship in self-
mastery, which is training
in human freedom. The
alternative is clear: either
man governs his passions
and nds peace, or he lets
himself be dominated by
them and becomes unhappy.
(Catechism 2339)
Chastity is not just abstaining
from these passions. It is
having a true freedom by not
being enslaved by addictions
that can become false gods.
The Church teaches us that
all of us are called to a chaste
life whether single, married,
or religious. We all can start
today by living a life of chastity
for truly it is the virtue of the
gift of ourselves to others
and seeing the other as a
person created in the image
of God. St. Josemaria Escriva
explained it in these words,
“When you decide rmly to
lead a clean life, chastity will
not be a burden on you: it will
be a crown of triumph.”
Facts About Your Fertility
What is Peak-type mucus? There are three properties that make up Peak-
type mucus. First, the mucus is stretchy having one inch or more of stretch.
Second, it is crystal clear or transparent when held up to the light. And, third,
it is lubricative or very slippery when you wipe from front to back through
the back portion of the vagina. All of these properties are a signal that your
body is producing a hormone called estrogen, which stimulates your cervix to
produce Peak-type mucus letting you know when ovulation is about to occur.
Pope Paul VI and St. Josemaria
(Based on the original account)
December 9th, 1531, the feast of the Immaculate Conception.
Juan Diego, a recent convert to the Catholic faith, was walking to attend
the early morning Mass in Mexico City. Passing by Tepeyac Hill he heard
the beautiful singing of birds, seemingly from heaven. Looking to see
where the celestial music was coming from, he suddenly heard a young
woman’s voice affectionately calling his name, “Juanito.” Reaching the
top of the hill, he saw a radiant woman clothed in splendid light - the Ever
Virgin Holy Mary, Mother of God. She told Juan that she desired him to be
her special messenger to the Bishop of Mexico City. Juan was to tell the
bishop that Our Lady wanted a church to be built where she could mani-
fest her Son and hear the petitions of her spiritual children.
After being put off by the bishop’s servants, Juan was nally granted an au-
dience with Franciscan Bishop Fray Juan Zumarraga. The bishop didn’t ini-
tially believe Juan Diego and asked him to return another day. Secretly, the
bishop had been invoking the intercession of the Mother of God for help.
The Spaniards had recently conquered the native Aztec people and were
treating them harshly. Very few were willing to abandon their pagan gods
and embrace the religion of their new dictators. All of this weighed heavy on
the heart of Bishop Zumarraga, whom history now knows as the “Protec-
tor of the Native People.” He wondered if Juan
Diego’s story was the answer to his prayers.
Dejected, Juan returned to Tepeyac and asked
Our Lady to use someone else more worthy
than himself. She assured him that he was per-
sonally chosen to be her ambassador. The next
day he returned to plead with the bishop.
Though impressed by Juan’s persistence, he
was still unsure. He sent Juan to tell the Lady
he needed a sign in order to know if it was truly
her. Upon hearing the bishop’s request, Our
Lady told Juan to return the next day and she
would give him the sign he needed. Returning
home, Juan found his uncle ill and close to
death. Instead of returning the next day, Juan
Story of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Pope Paul VI Institute
For the Study of Human Reproduction
6901 Mercy Road l Omaha, NE 68106-2621
(402) 390-6600 l www.popepaulvi.com
Comments/questions: popepaul@popepaulvi.com
stayed home and took care of his ailing uncle.
Early on December 12th, Juan rushed to Mexico City in order to get
a priest to administer the last rites to his dying uncle. On his way he
went around the back of Tepeyac Hill in order to avoid Our Lady whom
he knew would surely understand. But Our Lady meet him anyway
telling him not to worry, his uncle was already healed. He was to learn
later that at that moment Our Lady had appeared to his uncle, who
was restored to health. She urged Juan to go to the top of the hill were
he would nd owers miraculously growing. Juan was astonished to
see so many vibrant owers during the frosty time of the year. He cut
them and gathered them in his tilma (cloak). Our Lady arranged the
owers with her own hands, rolled up the tilma and ordered Juan not
to unfurl his tilma until he was in the presence of the bishop.
After being harassed by the bishop’s servants, Juan was nally
brought in to see him. After recounting every detail of his conver-
sation with Our Lady, he let down his tilma and the owers fell to
the oor. Juan was surprised when everyone in the room also fell
to the oor on their knees. The image of Our Lady had miracu-
lously appeared on Juan’s tilma! Repenting for his unbelief with
abundant tears, Bishop Juan Zumarraga promised to build the
shrine that Our Lady had requested. Soon the church was built
and the holy image transferred. The story spread like wildre and
people began to stream in to see the heavenly image and hear the
story from Juan Diego. Many miracles starting happening and in
the following years some 10 million were baptized and converted
to the Jesus Christ! Pope John Paul II declared Blessed Juan Diego
the greatest evangelist of all times.
Account taken from www.vatican.va
Our Lady of Guadalupe
