THE WHAT AND THE WHY
For most people marriage is one of the most important decisions and realities of their life; in it they form a community of love. For Catholics, marriage is not merely a civil contract but is a covenant between a man and a woman before God. If both are baptized, the marriage is a sacrament, a symbol of the unity of Christ and the Church. A sacramental marriage is a means of grace, giving strength to the husband and wife to live out their commitment, and to help each on the path to holiness.
“The marriage covenant, by which a man and a woman form with each other an intimate communion of life and love, has been founded and endowed with its own special laws by the Creator. By its very nature it is ordered to the good of the couple, as well as to the generation and education of children. Christ the Lord raised marriage between the baptized to the dignity of a sacrament.
“The sacrament of Matrimony signifies the union of Christ and the Church. It gives spouses the grace to love each other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church; the grace of the sacrament thus perfects the human love of the spouses, strengthens their indissoluble unity, and sanctifies them on the way to eternal life.
“Marriage is based on the consent of the contracting parties, that is, on their will to give themselves, each to the other, mutually and definitively, in order to live a covenant of faithful and fruitful love.
The above three paragraphs are taken from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1660 to 1662. and gives us a summary of the official Catholic understanding of marriages – those sealed by the sacrament of Matrimony – in Church teaching.
In today’s Western society, this is not well understood or appreciated. There have been outcries calling for all sorts of changes that expand the meaning of marriage. There are demands to allow temporary marriages or trial marriages. Some call for marriages between two men or two women or among more than two people.
God is love. He loves all the people who make these requests, outcries and demands as much as He loves those who don’t. But that does not mean that He agrees with them.
The Church believes what it has believed from the beginning, and what it sees stated or implied in the Bible. God of course created sexuality when He created the universe. Why? For entertainment? Hardly. The most evident reason is for the purpose of procreation – bearing and raising children. Without sexuality it is doubtful that we would exist as a race. Nor would a lot of other forms of life.
With this understanding, the Church sees matrimony as a gift from God to us. And more than that, it provides us humans a way to participate in His work of creation, in the most important thing He does in creation. In the Bible He told us to “increase and multiply and fill the earth.” We are His coworkers.
In the eyes of the Church, matrimony is a contract between a man and a woman to share everything they are and have. It is an agreement to intimacy as well. God blesses such contracts and sharing, and in the sacrament of matrimony he provides extra grace, extra power, to live and work together as one, and usually to form a loving family. In unity. Maintaining a loving relationship even when the romantic feelings may fade, as they often do. God is love, What He does is always to promote love.
When some people asked Jesus about divorce, He said that marriage is intended to be for life. But, they asked, Moses, who was God’s spokesman, allowed it so how can that be? Jesus told them it was intended by God to be for life but Moses allowed it “because of the hardness of their hearts.” (Mt 19:8). Jesus then repeated that from the beginning it was not so. Clearly He did not approve of Moses’ decision. “The hardness of your hearts” is hardly an excuse for going against God’s intentions.
A sacrament is a sign of some kind that produces what it represents. For baptism this sign is water. For the Eucharist this sign is bread and wine. For matrimony it is the contract, the saying of “I do” that is the sign. In this sense it is not the priest but the couple who confer the sacrament on one another. The priest is to represent the presence of Jesus and the blessing of the Church on it. The contract is a sacred thing, and needs to be respected.
For most people marriage is one of the most important decisions and realities of their life; in it they form a community of love. For Catholics, marriage is not merely a civil contract but is a covenant between a man and a woman before God. If both are baptized, the marriage is a sacrament, a symbol of the unity of Christ and the Church. A sacramental marriage is a means of grace, giving strength to the husband and wife to live out their commitment, and to help each on the path to holiness.
“The marriage covenant, by which a man and a woman form with each other an intimate communion of life and love, has been founded and endowed with its own special laws by the Creator. By its very nature it is ordered to the good of the couple, as well as to the generation and education of children. Christ the Lord raised marriage between the baptized to the dignity of a sacrament.
“The sacrament of Matrimony signifies the union of Christ and the Church. It gives spouses the grace to love each other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church; the grace of the sacrament thus perfects the human love of the spouses, strengthens their indissoluble unity, and sanctifies them on the way to eternal life.
“Marriage is based on the consent of the contracting parties, that is, on their will to give themselves, each to the other, mutually and definitively, in order to live a covenant of faithful and fruitful love.
The above three paragraphs are taken from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1660 to 1662. and gives us a summary of the official Catholic understanding of marriages – those sealed by the sacrament of Matrimony – in Church teaching.
In today’s Western society, this is not well understood or appreciated. There have been outcries calling for all sorts of changes that expand the meaning of marriage. There are demands to allow temporary marriages or trial marriages. Some call for marriages between two men or two women or among more than two people.
God is love. He loves all the people who make these requests, outcries and demands as much as He loves those who don’t. But that does not mean that He agrees with them.
The Church believes what it has believed from the beginning, and what it sees stated or implied in the Bible. God of course created sexuality when He created the universe. Why? For entertainment? Hardly. The most evident reason is for the purpose of procreation – bearing and raising children. Without sexuality it is doubtful that we would exist as a race. Nor would a lot of other forms of life.
With this understanding, the Church sees matrimony as a gift from God to us. And more than that, it provides us humans a way to participate in His work of creation, in the most important thing He does in creation. In the Bible He told us to “increase and multiply and fill the earth.” We are His coworkers.
In the eyes of the Church, matrimony is a contract between a man and a woman to share everything they are and have. It is an agreement to intimacy as well. God blesses such contracts and sharing, and in the sacrament of matrimony he provides extra grace, extra power, to live and work together as one, and usually to form a loving family. In unity. Maintaining a loving relationship even when the romantic feelings may fade, as they often do. God is love, What He does is always to promote love.
When some people asked Jesus about divorce, He said that marriage is intended to be for life. But, they asked, Moses, who was God’s spokesman, allowed it so how can that be? Jesus told them it was intended by God to be for life but Moses allowed it “because of the hardness of their hearts.” (Mt 19:8). Jesus then repeated that from the beginning it was not so. Clearly He did not approve of Moses’ decision. “The hardness of your hearts” is hardly an excuse for going against God’s intentions.
A sacrament is a sign of some kind that produces what it represents. For baptism this sign is water. For the Eucharist this sign is bread and wine. For matrimony it is the contract, the saying of “I do” that is the sign. In this sense it is not the priest but the couple who confer the sacrament on one another. The priest is to represent the presence of Jesus and the blessing of the Church on it. The contract is a sacred thing, and needs to be respected.
