Digital Continent Summer 2018 | Page 22

14 Vitae states—with one heart and soul, which is both the goal of their response and also the means by which the spouses reach fulfilment together as human persons. 45 A Return to the Beginning Having a better understanding of this divine gift’s meaning and purpose requires, in the words of St. John Paul II, a return to the beginning. 46 It is in Genesis that one finds not only the mystery of creation revealed in the sacred text but also proof of the inseparable relationship between the procreative and the unitive significance of the primordial gift. According to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the Genesis narrative is placed in opposition to Middle Eastern fertility rites which posed an ongoing temptation to the Israelites and degraded and perverted the gifts of 45 HV, sec. 9. John Paul II, “Marriage in the Integral Vision of Man,” Vatican.va, April 2, 1980, para. 9, accessed May 27, 2019, https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/audiences/1980/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_19800402.html. 46