Conjugial Love (Chadwick) n. 180

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180. (xxi) The states of this love are innocence, peace, tranquillity, intimate friendship, full trust and a desire shared by the disposition and heart of each to do the other all the good they can. All these things give rise to blessedness, bliss, joy and pleasure, and by their everlasting enjoyment heavenly happiness.

The reason why conjugial love enjoys and is the source of both these sets of states is that it is the product of the marriage of good and truth, a marriage that comes from the Lord. It is the nature of love to wish to communicate with the object of heartfelt love, in fact to give pleasure to the other and to seek one's own pleasure from him. So even infinitely more does the Divine love in the Lord for man, whom He created to receive the love and wisdom which proceed from Him. Since He created man to receive, the male to receive wisdom, the female to receive the love of her husband's wisdom, He therefore instilled into the innermost region of human beings conjugial love, as being the means of conferring all the blessedness, happiness, joy and pleasure which proceed solely from His Divine love by means of His Divine wisdom together with life, and enter into human beings. Consequently it affects those who enjoy truly conjugial love, because they are the only ones to receive this. Innocence, peace, tranquillity, intimate friendship, full trust and a desire shared by the disposition and heart to do to the other all the good they can are mentioned, because innocence and peace belong to the soul, tranquillity to the mind, intimate friendship to the chest, full trust to the heart, and the desire shared by the disposition and heart to do to the other all the good they can belongs to the body as the result of the others.


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