70 in the whole work of creation. The plural suggests that the three Divine Persons are engaged in the act of creation and that the woman and the man are to be in the image of the trinitarian communion of these Divine Persons. It means that the vocation to communion of the woman and the man was in God’s plan from the very beginning which makes marriage the most primal sacrament. Indeed, man, being the crown of the created world which God brings into existence to reveal His glory, is called to be the most perfect expression of God’s essence, to transmit the absolute communion of the Divine Persons into a visible dimension and to reveal the secret that the whole created world is God’s gift and the true reason for creation is Love. “Man appears in the visible world as the highest expression of the divine gift, because he bears within him the interior dimension of the gift – says John Paul II […] Thus, in this dimension, a primordial sacrament is constituted, understood as a sign that transmits effectively in the visible world the invisible mystery hidden in God from time immemorial. This is the mystery of truth and love, the mystery of divine life, in which man really participates.” (General Audience, 20 February 1980, 3-4). This is the most noble vocation of a woman and a man joined together in holy matrimony from the beginning. REFLECTIONS The Gospel is not a euphemism... Infertile married couples represent a serious pastoral challenge. It is worth emphasising that the term infertile in itself is overwhelming. It has to do with vulnerability which is reluctant to face up to any suffering. Infertility causes discomfort – incomprehensible indisposition, illness, pain. Saying openly that there is the possibility of having no children is avoided mainly in order to avoid confrontation with pain. Instead, we say that there are people who have difficulties with conceiving a child. Is this delicate euphemism justified? I have doubts. On the one hand, we are trying to be gentle, but on the other hand, pain seems to escape from the existential experience of the married couple while it is this pain which after all made them seek help and answers to their questions. The term infertile couple should not be avoided. It precisely describes the situation and, from the Christian perspective, indicates a closeness to the suffering Christ. His cross, although an instrument of anguish, has become also a reality of happiness. Happiness does not mean lack of suffer-
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