MATRIMONY

* “God created man in his own image and likeness: calling him to
existence through love, He called
him at the same time for love
 THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY
The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between
themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward
the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this
covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the
dignity of a sacrament."
Difference of the terms
MARRIAGE AS “COVENANT LOVE”
• . Marriage is a unique sacrament in that the vocation of
marriage itself is a foundational human reality built into the
very created nature of man and woman, with its own
profound meaning, evenbefore the teaching of any specific
religion (cf. CCC 1602-5).

• the “external sign” is the love relationship between the

spouses

• among all human love relationships, none rivals the life-long

commitment of total conjugal intimacy and self-giving of the
married partners
 MARRIAGE AS “COVENANT LOVE”

• The Bible reveals this “natural

“Father, you created man in love to share covenant” of love as the
your divine life.
image/symbol of God the Creator’s
We see his high destiny in the love of
husband and wife absolute and unfailing love.
which bears the imprint of your own divine • Human persons are created through
love.
God’s love, in the image of God
Love is man’s origin; love is his constant who is Love, and called to love one
calling.
Love is his fulfillment in heaven.
another in sharing God’s own love
 Firm basis for understanding man
and woman and their conjugal union
priestly account Yahwist creation account
• “Be fertile and multiply, fill the • “It is not good for man to be alone. I
earth and subdueit” (Gn 1:27f). will make a suitable partner for him . .
. that is why a man leaves his father
and mother and clings to his wife, and
the two of them become one body”
• Thus, marriage has the social (Gn 2:18, 24).
purpose of propagating the
human race by sharing in God’s • This expresses the personal purpose
own creativity (cf. CCC 1604). of marriage as the mutual love,
support, and unity of the couple (cf.
CCC 1605).
 One “Body” (or “Flesh”) “Become”
• For the Hebrew author of Genesis, this meant not just physical unity, but the unity • “To become” implies a life-long process (only begun on their wedding
of two day) of the gradual
• persons in all their basic human levels __ physical, psychological, and spiritual, or • transformation of an “I” and a “Thou” into a “We.” The essential
body, mind, and
condition for this “becoming one
• heart or spirit. This unity does not mean losing one’s own identity by merging with
another into one • body” is the basic equality of male and female, asserted in the
creation account. The unity and
• personality, nor yielding to domination by the other. Rather it is “the intimate
partnership of life and • equality in marriage is such that both partners are even included
• love” (GS 48) in which the couple freely are present to, think about, care for, and
under the one name, “man.” “When
enter into, each other. Their
• God created man, . . . He created them male and female . . . He
• thoughts, ideals, hopes and destinies become intertwined. blessed them and named them ‘man’ ”
• Yet, within this deep mutual inter-personal relationship, both become more • (Gn 5:1f).
uniquely
• This equality does not mean ignoring the differences and diverse gifts
• themselves, with their own personal character and traits. Authentic human love and characteristics of the
does not reduce
• persons to a “least common denominator,” but rather consists in the communion • sexes. Rather, it points to the basic human capacities for knowing,
and sharing of unique willing, and free self-giving in love
• persons in their very uniqueness. • that arise from being created in the image and likeness of God who is
Love.
KINDS OF MARRIAGE
Failure in Conjugal Unity/Equality
• But human history presents one long account of
failing to live up to this creation ideal of
• “becoming one body.” Genesis 3 sketches the
origin of sin and its basic consequences in human
• marriage. It is sin, not God’s plan, that changes
marriage from conjugal union of equal partners
into
• mutual accusation and domination of one by the
other. “God said to the woman: ‘Your urge shall be
• for your husband, and he shall be your master’ ”
(Gn 3:16). Thus, we have the start of the sad
history
• of infidelity, adultery, divorce, broken families, and
all kinds of sexual disorders that destroy human
• dignity (cf. CCC 1606-8).
Nuances of Marriage
Marriage in God’s Redemptive Plan
• God, however, ever faithful to His covenant of love,
included marriage and family in His
• redemptive plan. The Old Testament prophets, by
using marriage as a symbol of God’s covenant with
• His Chosen People, had already pictured marriage
as a covenant which should imitate God’s own
• fidelity (cf. Hos 2:21f; Is 54:4-6, 10; 62:4-5; Ez 16:8-
14, 60-63). “You must not break faith with the
• wife of your youth. For I hate divorce, says the
Lord, the God of Israel” (Mal 2:15f; cf. CCC 1609-
• 11). But it was only through Jesus Christ that the
“covenant of human love,” symbol of God’s love for
• his people in creation, could be raised to become
the sacrament of the “new covenant of Christ’s
• redemptive love” with His people, the Church.
 The New Covenant
• 1889. In Jesus Christ, God’s covenant with His people was brought to unsurpassable
heights (cf. CCC
• 1612-15). “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son” (Jn 3:16).
• • Jesus is ‘God’s Covenant-with-His-people’ in person: God and man united in one
person.
• • He is God’s perfect Self-gift to man, and man’s loving response to God.
• • In Jesus, the new Adam, God has redeemed all of us, members of the first Adam’s race.
• • In Jesus, “we were all baptized into one body” (1 Cor 12:13), all “members of Christ”
who
• cleansed his people “in the bath of water by the power of the word ” (Eph 5:26).
• Thus, Jesus is the Bridegroom of God’s New Covenant People who are invited to share
the wedding
• feast in God’s Kingdom (Mt 22:2ff).
 Marriage, Image of the New Covenant
• “I will give you a new heart and • Jesus’ own teaching on marriage went back to God’s
place a new spirit within you, taking original creative ideal of man and woman becoming
from your bodies your stony hearts “one body” (cf. Mt 19:3-9; CCC 1616-17).
and giving you natural hearts. I will
put my spirit within you and make
you live by my statutes”
(Ez 36:26f)
• John Paul II develops this basic truth in focusing on one
effect of the Sacrament of Marriage:

Christ renews the first plan that the Creator had

inscribed in the hearts of man and woman, and in the
celebration of the Sacrament of Matrimony offers “a new
heart”thus the couple are not only able to overcome
“hardness of heart,” but also and above all they are able
to share the full and definitive love of Christ, the new and
eternal Covenant made flesh (FC 20).
Marriage, Image of the New Covenant
• Vatican II describes how Christian spouses
“are fortified and receive a kind of
• consecration in the duties and dignity of their
state . . . as spouses fulfill their conjugal and
family
• obligations, they are penetrated with the
Spirit of Christ, who fills their whole lives with
faith, hope
• and charity” (GS 48). The Second Preface of
the Wedding Mass prays to the Father:
• This outpouring of love in the new covenant
of grace is symbolized in the marriage
covenant
• that seals the love of husband and wife and
reflects your divine plan of love.
 Marriage, Image of the New Covenant
• The key message is:
the covenant between man and
woman is seen as the image of
the covenant between Christ
and the Church.
• Husbands and wives, therefore, should love and act toward
each other as Christ loves and treats us, his Church
• marriage partners are admonished: “Defer to one another out
of reverence for Christ” (Eph 5:21). All domination by one
partner over the other is thus directly rejected.
Moreover, contrary to a common misreading, this
mutual giving way to one another is supported, not denied, by
“the husband is head of his wife” (Eph 5:23)
• Because he is head “just as Christ is head of the Church.” Now
Christ defined his headship as service: “The Son of Man has
not come to be served but to serve — to give his life in ransom
for many” (Mk 10:45). So Christ showed he is head of the
Church in that he “loved the Church and gave himself up for
her” (Eph 5:25).
• The mutual “giving way to one another” is
precisely “out of reverence for Christ.” The
profound basis for this mutual “giving way” is
the incredible truth of Revelation that the
marriage covenant between man and woman
is “a great mystery foreshadowing” of the
covenant between Christ and the Church (Eph
5:32).
• Christ’s covenant is clearly one of pure love
and self-sacrifice.
• Therefore, “out of reverence for Christ,”
whose covenant with the Church is
symbolized in the marriage covenant of man
and woman, “each one of you should love his
wife as himself, the wife for her part showing
respect for her husband” (Eph 5:33).