The different ways in which males and females receive the good and truth
emanating from the Lord is the source of the attraction between the sexes. In
animals the attraction is only natural; in humans it is both natural and spiritual.
And because of the angelic potential that humans possess, we are also
capable of behavior which is worse than animals are capable of, because they
act according to instinct alone, not being endowed with free will and reason.
Animals are amoral; we are either moral or immoral. They mate, but are
not capable of marrying in the way humans are. Their instinct to mate comes
from the Divine, but a pair of animals do not know of God’s presence with
them as the deepest source of the bond between them, as a human husband
and wife can. Humans can know it, reflect on it, and cultivate it.
The spiritual love of marriage is said to lie within the general physical
attraction between the sexes “like a gem in its matrix.” (Conjugial Love 97)
Our goal, as individual human beings and as a society, should be to find that
hidden treasure of spiritual love, cherish it, hold it close and protect it. “For the
conjugial union of one man with one wife is the precious jewel of human life
and the repository of Christian religion.” (Ibid. 457)
(WEO)
which comes first?
Which of those things (referred to in Conjugial Love 457) – the conj ՝