TORONTO: Fr. John Hodgins
“For this reason a man shall leave his father and
mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a
great mystery and I am applying it to Christ and the Church” Ephesians
5: 31 – 32.
CCC = Catechism of the Catholic Church
DV = Dei Verbum
FC = Familiaris Consortio
GS = Gaudium et Spes
LG = Lumen Gentium
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Holy Matrimony and the "Ladder of Love"
It
is difficult for non-Catholics, as well as for many Catholics, to understand
and to appreciate the Church’s teaching on Marriage and the Sacrament of Holy
Matrimony.
For
Catholics, marriage is much more than a contract; it is a life-long covenant and a sacrament of the Church. Not only is
marriage regarded by the Church as holding a position of importance well above
most relationships on what Plato referred to as the “ladder of love,” Holy
Matrimony is fundamental to understanding what the Church of Jesus Christ is –
its ecclesiology.
“This
partnership of man and woman constitutes the first form of communion between
persons”
(GS 12.4).
Expressions
of love other than within Holy Matrimony – friendship, affection, filial
devotion, etc. – partake in the ideal of love but they are not sacramentalized
by the Church, a sacrament being an essential component of the Church’s
constitution as the agent of redemption and salvation for humanity (CCC 738).
This
sacramental understanding of Holy Matrimony (Christian Marriage) is linked to
the Church’s concepts of grace and of sin. Sin is due to the fallen nature of
human beings. Many human relationships and interactions are disordered and so do not reflect God's purposes. The Church teaches that human beings require the grace of God to
be forgiven, to be healed, and to enter into the communion with God for which
we are created and within which we grow and develop in love. As Pope St. John
Paul put it: “Love is therefore the fundamental and innate vocation of every
human being” (FC 11).
Most
post-moderns, unfortunately, have never encountered or come to any real
understanding of the concepts of sin and grace. Many have in their minds, at
best, a notional understanding, or a caricature, of sin and grace. The majority see marriage as an option or a choice only.
Secular society largely persists with false conceptions about Catholic doctrine (teaching) because most of the elites and members of the media have no grasp of Christian anthropology in the context of God’s love.
Secular society largely persists with false conceptions about Catholic doctrine (teaching) because most of the elites and members of the media have no grasp of Christian anthropology in the context of God’s love.
Catholic
Doctrine and Anthropology
To
begin with, Catholic doctrine sees humans as part of creation yet made in the
image of God, created in love and for love. Humanity is, in the words of The
Catechism of the Catholic Church, “the summit of the Creator’s work”
(CCC 343). Because we are made in the image of God, we are spiritually linked
to but, of course, are not physical copies of God.
The
image and likeness of God in humanity (Genesis 1:27) relates to the gifts of
intellect and will that God has shared with us (GS 12.3). The power to
reason and to will is not what we have in common with the animals but is,
rather, the power we participate in through the one and only transcendent God
who has become incarnate (human) in the person of Jesus Christ. As humans,
then, we “unite the spiritual and material worlds” (CCC 355) as Jesus
did most perfectly.
However,
unlike Jesus, who is the second person of God the Holy Trinity, we, as human
creatures of God, commit sin, i.e. we fail to do what is best, we miss the
mark, or we actively do what is evil. So it is that we need forgiveness and
grace in order to move up the ladder of love.
Unlike
what some Protestants believe, Catholics hold that as creatures we have an
active part in co-operating with God’s grace (CCC 2000). By God's grace
we are co-creators with God. We are baptized into the Body of Christ in
order to actively choose the grace offered us and to be part of the loving
process of salvation, which is not a single moment or one event but a lifetime
journey with Christ (DV 3; Cf. Genesis 3:15; Romans 2: 6-7; 6: 19,22).
How
does this Christian anthropology affect the Catholic understanding of Marriage?
First
of all, in terms of nature, male and female are created for one another. The
human race literally depends upon the union of man and woman. Catholics see
this as part of the Natural Law, which may be comprehended by reason. The union
of man and woman is a first instance of humanity co-operating with God in
physical nature but, most importantly, doing so through acts of the will and in
the power of the Holy Spirit (CCC 1624, 1641 – 1642).
In
theological terms, the fiat, the yes, of Blessed Mary agreeing to become the
mother of Jesus Christ (Luke 1:38) is a paradigm for the human spiritual
response to God’s initiative by willing what God wills. God has chosen to allow
creation to depend, in part at least, upon our decision to respond or not to
God’s initiative through creation.
•
through Creation in all its variety, beauty, and wonder
•
through the Word of Revelation in Holy Scripture
•
through Sacred Tradition, which formed the canon of
Scripture and accompanies the life and liturgy of the people of God from
generation to generation
•
through the Magisterium, or teaching authority, of the
Church – the Body of Christ (CCC 787-791)
The
same Logos moves in Creation, Scripture, and Tradition and is
continually interpreted in each age by the tangible and authoritative
Magisterium of the Church articulated through the Petrine Office of the Holy
Father, the symbol and guarantee of unity in Christ. This is where
Christian anthropology meets ecclesiology
– the divine community is established in human society for its salvation
from sin and death.
The
Sacrament of Holy Matrimony is, then, both an affirmation of the role we play
in nature – God’s creation (GS 47.1) – and a participation in the spiritual
reality of love that the Logos reveals and communicates. Christian
Marriage is a paradigm of the Church; both exist for the creative and loving
purposes of God (CCC 1661).
By
its very nature, marriage must be an open participation in creation at all
levels: physical, communal, moral, ethical, and spiritual (FC 13).
In
and through Holy Matrimony individuals may become spiritually actualized
together in the life of God, the Holy Trinity. This actualization develops for
individual persons by entering into a loving lifelong covenant with another
person of the complementary sex in the order of creation. Unity comes about by
means of the will of God the Father, “creator of heaven and earth”
(Nicene Creed, CCC 1604).
Spiritually,
actualization may develop for individuals in other committed relationships. Such fruitful relationships flower within the vows of celibacy, chaste friendships, etc. Holy Matrimony, however,
is sacramentalized, confirming its critical importance both for humanity
generally and for the Body of Christ, the Church, in particular.
Another
aspect of doctrine as it relates to anthropology and marriage involves our
spiritual development and sanctification by means of our commitment within the
sacrificial bond of Christ's redemption. This bond is forged through the
incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of God the Son, Jesus
Christ (Matthew 11:29 -30; 19:6; Mark 8:4).
Our participation in the
covenant of marriage mirrors the deep doctrine of love lived out in the
atonement that Christ makes for humanity’s sin. Christ's is the complete and
unbreakable baptismal covenant into which we enter by grace as we do in Holy Matrimony.
Both are indissoluble covenants based upon the love of God mediated in the
sacramental relationship of individuals within a greater whole.
Finally,
the relationship of love in Christian marriage, as in Baptism, is sustained in
the communion of the Holy Spirit (CCC 1616-1617). God is forever present and the grace and power of the Holy Spirit confirms our forgiveness and our union
with Christ. This grace is especially mediated through the sacraments in which
reside grace to heal and strengthen us.
Over
time, living within this tripartite bond of love – Father, Son and Holy Spirit
– acts to free individuals from a preoccupation with self and from the effects
of sin while incorporating us ever more into the life of the Body of Christ,
the Church. This deepening incorporation allows the individual’s creative and
loving efforts to be co-ordinated with the will of God and with others in the
covenanted community, a community which is open to and invites all people.
Communion
in the Holy Spirit is actualized by the love and grace of God through the
co-operation and mutual respect of individual redeemed humans who are empowered
through their fiat, i.e. their freely willed co-operation, by grace,
with the Divine will (LG 11.2; 41).
In
light of this covenant relationship, as mentioned at the outset, Holy Matrimony
is at a very high level on the "ladder of love," as well as being
central to the ecclesiology or structure of the Catholic Church (CCC 1655 –
1658).
The
present state of affairs in Canada regarding Marriage and Holy Matrimony
In
terms of the role of the Catholic Church vis a vis secular society and
government in Canada, the Church offers its blessing to the Christian man and
woman who publicly exchange vows without impediment (previous marriage or other
canonical impediments, e.g. consanguinity, age, mental capacity, etc.).
“According
to the Latin tradition [the Western Church] the spouses as ministers of
Christ’s grace mutually confer upon each other the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony
by expressing their consent before the Church” (CCC 1623).
How
the state chooses to record legal relationships including marriage is a separate matter and cannot interfere with the sacraments of
the Catholic Church. The Church has little control over what the state does but
the Church cannot, either, be required to recognize as “marital” relationships partnerships that do meet the basic requirements of free consent given between one man and one woman, regardless
of whether or not the state calls these “marriages.” Certainly, what the Church recognizes as "natural marriage" applies to many marriages of one man and one woman contracted outside the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. Though these marriages do not participate in the sacramental life of the Church they are both valid and may be a locus of God's grace.
The
model in some European countries, where all must exchange marriage vows
publicly before a state official and then must register their relationships in a
secular register, is something Canada may have to consider.
Catholics
would comply with state requirements and then go to the Church to celebrate, in
the context of Mass, their mutual consent which creates the sacramental bond and life-long covenant.
This
arrangement would free Catholic bishops, priests and deacons in Canada from the requirement that
they be registered and regulated by civil authorities in order to officiate at
marriages. Priests would not be required to act in any way for the state nor be
regulated by secular authority with regard to the Sacrament of Holy
Matrimony.
For
the reasons noted above, the Church does well to draw a clear line between Holy
Matrimony and the laws and regulations relating to “marriage” as now defined by
the secular state in Canada.
Admittedly,
this compromise is not ideal but in this way the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony may continue to be celebrated by Christians (and Catholics in particular) without compromising the integrity of the Church or the minsters of the sacrament -- the baptized man and woman.
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