The comparison between the marital communion and the Eucharistic communion is similar because they are both the results of sacraments, both the result of sacrificial love, both an expression of bodily love, both a renewal of the covenant, both covenants sealed with a death to self. Because of this, just as each reception of the Eucharist is in itself a scared reality signifying complete acceptance of the covenant, likewise each act of married sexual love is a sacred reality. It entails a renewal of the marriage covenant, an acceptance of each other regardless of the circumstances, even if this renewal should lead to sickness or to poorness or even to death itself.
See Sex and the Marriage Covenant: A Basis for Morality, Chapter 4, “Holy Communion: Eucharistic and Marital.” This chapter is at this website.
For more on the marriage covenant, read Sex and the Marriage Covenant: A Basis for Morality.
For a rebirth of chastity, for a stop to contraception and abortion, and for a culture of life, let us pray.
Sheila Kippley
Natural Family Planning: The Complete Approach, 2009
Breastfeeding and Catholic Motherhood, 2005
The Seven Standards of Ecological Breastfeeding: The Frequency Factor, 2008
Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing, 1974 classic edition, 2008