For World Breastfeeding Week (WBW), August 1-7, 2013, I have chosen to use my chapter on “Breastfeeding and the Marriage Act” in my book, Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood. It is the only source I know that relates the theology of the body to breastfeeding.
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Many comparisons can be made between the marriage act and the act of breastfeeding. In pointing out such similarities, I don’t mean to denigrate the sacrament of Matrimony. God established marriage from the beginning of the human race, and Christ raised marriage between two Christians to the level of a sacrament. The marriage act is of utmost importance and value; in it, a man and wife become co-creators with God in bringing children into the world. Experts who study the health of society speak about the importance of the strength and permanence of the husband-wife marital relationship as well as the importance of how parents, especially mothers, raise their young. In addition, many acts involving service or gift of self to others (such as teacher to students or priest to parishioners) also have avenues for comparison. This is an area where I hope future theologians will develop deeper thoughts concerning maternal nursing.
I offer eleven simple points of comparison between breastfeeding and the marriage act, in the hope of further elevating the importance of each:
. They are voluntary acts between two persons.
. Both acts are normally essential for life.
. The woman offers her body to her husband in the marriage act and to her baby in the breastfeeding act.
. Both acts in Scripture are used to describe God’s love for his people.
. Both acts involve love through intimacy, physical closeness, and emotional bonding.
. Both acts normally involve physical pleasure.
. Both acts can impact the health of a family and thus society.
. Both acts ought to involve a gift of self to another.
. The Pope’s theology of the body applies to both acts.
. Each act involves a love that unifies the two persons.
. Both acts have two orders, the order of nature and the personal order.
Sheila Kippley
Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood
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