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Thanks for the response! On one level I understand all the spiritual references to which to you responded. But I'd rather go to practical application to see if you can somehow hit a nerve with me and my spiritual blockage on this subject. So let me pose this practical situation upon two couples.........Couple "A" practices NFP from the beginning of their marriage to the end of their fertile lives never having conceived, never having bore a child but having followed the letter of the law of the Catholic Faith to a "T." Couple "B" practices interrupted coitus during every single love making act. During the course of their lives they have 4 mistakes and bring each of these pregnancies to full term and birth. They raise the children happily ever after and those children go on to give them grandchildren. Which couple has done God's work?

It could be that your "Couple A" has a serious medical reason for avoiding pregnancy. Or perhaps they have a disastrous marriage, but decide not to divorce due to their belief in the sanctity of their vows, in spite of the outcome. It is possible that their motives for avoiding pregnancy are within what the Church would consider "serious reasons." (Have you read "Humanae Vitae"? That would help a lot!)

Your Couple B is practicing sin, irrespective of the outcome. The seriousness of their sin depends on their level of knowledge and the nature of the relationship; as you know, mortal sin requires "Grave matter," which this is, but also "Full knowledge," and "Full consent of the will." From a personal standpoint (pardon my psychological baggage) I would not let a man use me as a toilet year after year, without being open to having children. He could have affairs, he could file for divorce, he could climb Mount Everest, but I simply wouldn't stand for it.

Couple "A" practices NFP from the beginning of their marriage to the end of their fertile lives never having conceived, never having bore a child but having followed the letter of the law of the Catholic Faith to a "T." Couple "B" practices interrupted coitus during every single love making act. During the course of their lives they have 4 mistakes and bring each of these pregnancies to full term and birth

Both couples perverted their marriages differently. Couple A is deliberately childless. This is against the Church's teaching even if they used NFP. The Church only allows NFP for the purposes of pregancy prevention if prudent consideration exists to avoid a pregnancy at that particular time. For example, it is OK to prevent a pregnancy when probability of a birth defect is high, or there are grave health risks due to the age of the couple, or the couple truly cannot afford the child. It is also OK to delay a pregnancy for health or economic reason. It is not OK to prevent a pregnancy for frivolous reasons such as lack of affection for children or desire to maintain two careers, regardless of the method.

Couple B resisted the purpose of their marriage by denying themselves the gifts of unitive and procreative intercourse. Despite God's steering them in the right direction with the unintended pregnancies, they refuse to hear His command, They insult their children by referring to them as mistakes (whether or not they use the word themselves, their life objectively treats children as mistakes of contraception). The happy outcome of four children does not accrue to their merit because they resisted God's procreative work in them.

Couple "A" practices NFP from the beginning of their marriage to the end of their fertile lives never having conceived, never having bore a child but having followed the letter of the law of the Catholic Faith to a "T." Couple "B" practices interrupted coitus during every single love making act. During the course of their lives they have 4 mistakes and bring each of these pregnancies to full term and birth. They raise the children happily ever after and those children go on to give them grandchildren. Which couple has done God's work?

Neither.

Couple A is especially abominable because they obviously had an intention to avoid all conception of children, which effectively renders their marriage null and void, since they effectively make themselves eunuchs.

There is an obligation for married couples to have children. This is not a part of sexual morality, but social justice arising from obligations towards society - "Be frutiful and multiply". Catholic Moralists had much discussion of this question in the middle of the last century. In North America, they came to the conclusion that there is a requirement to at least have 4-5 children if possible given the age of the couple at marriage. In Europe, they came to the conclusion that a couple should not abstain from allowing conception for a period of longer than 4-5 years. Both sets of moralists held this out as proper conditions only for our time and lands, noting they might be different in other times and other places. For example, in the time of the Holy Fathers of the Church while Rome still ruled the world, it was quite common for a couple to only have 1-3 children and then to abstain from sexual intercourse for the rest of their marriage to allow greater devotion to prayer.

You forget the matter of intention. It never reduces to the simple mechanics.