The first reading today indicates in a poetic fashion that sex and its fulfillment in marriage are God's idea, His creation. The reading also indicates that from the beginning God intended marriage to be a lasting relationship between one man and one woman.

Particularly expressive is the statement that "the two of them become one body", (Gen. 2:24). This statement, as understood and developed by the long tradition of the Church, means that sexual love between a husband and wife is meant to say something. Sex is intended to express a relationship so profound and so intimate that mere words are inadequate for it. In God's plan sex says, "I love you completely, exclusively, and forever."

This means that a husband and wife give themselves to each other without any holding back, and they accept each other just as they are, with all their excellent qualities and with their shortcomings. "I love you exclusively." This means that people who give themselves honestly to each other through sexual love cannot honestly give themselves in that way to anyone else. There is no one in the whole world to whom they are as committed as they are to each other. "I love you forever." A spouse should believe that his partner is so precious, so valuable that he wants the relationship to last for a lifetime.

We must admit that these ideas of sex and marriage are being eroded in our society. Through God's inspired word.