[inaudible]
Welcome back to church and sacraments.
Let's begin with a prayer in the name of the father and of the son of the Holy
spirit. Amen. Hail Mary full of grace.
The Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. Jesus, Holy Mary mother of God.
Pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
In the name of the father and of the son, the Holy spirit. All right.
So today we're going to talk about marriage. We'll start,
as we did with some of the other sacraments, we'll start with that. Um,
very nice definition from Canon law,
or this is Canon 10 55,
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 to 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. All right,
we'll pick up a well unfold this,
this definition throughout and add a few things besides a under several headings
here, but let's begin with that. Um,
an unfolding of that last phrase that Christ the Lord a raised marriage to the
dignity of the sacrament. Um, this phase,
I think implies certainly it's true about marriage.
That marriage is a reality and existing reality and the order of creation,
uh, different from some of the other sacraments in that respect.
Obviously the other sacraments are using, uh, visible elements from nature.
Uh, but, but marriage, uh, I think more than the others has that, um,
that sort of solid basis in the natural order, uh, at least so much of its,
of its reality, uh, preexisting the natural order. Uh,
and then the Lord raises that to the level of sacrament, um,
in the natural order. Um, really the thought of John Paul,
the second has so beautifully illustrated what marriage is meant to be,
uh, before the fall. Uh, you may,
you may be familiar with the theology of the body.
We're not going to get deep into the theology body here.
I just want to call your attention to this, that, that in the beginning.
Um, and in nature, uh, marriage has a certain meaning now,
of course, before the fall, Adam, many of our graced, right?
So there's no state of, um, of pure nature, uh,
in that gracious state before the fall. Um, man, and woman's, uh,
John Paul, the second beautifully explains our, um,
an image of the divine in marriage or an image of the divine communion of
persons. So here we have, uh, albeit graced,
a natural communion of persons, um,
and this natural communion of persons of course, um, uh,
harmed by sin. But then the Lord of course, uh, restores,
um, with the new covenant let's look at, um,
what sin does to, uh,
briefly what sin does to this, uh, covenant, uh,
this natural reality. First of all, of course,
Adam and Eve lost their preternatural gifts,
the gifts that they have in addition to nature, those graces are lost.
Um, and, and more, more than just losing, um,
those pretty natural gifts, they lose in a sense, something of what,
what belongs to a marriage by nature.
So a spirit of domination of course enters the picture,
uh, infidelity, uh, jealousy, uh,
conflicts that can escalate into, uh, hatred and separation.
Uh, these are of course are all too often, uh,
the story of the relationship now between a man and woman.
So the, the, um,
the beautiful vocation of man and woman to be fruitful and multiply is now
burdened by the punishments of sin pain and childbirth toil, of course,
uh, but perhaps worst of all, uh, domination and lust and those things that,
that attack, um, the very dignity of the person
it's important to recognize though that the fall did not destroy the meaning of
human sexuality as always in the Catholic view, right? Um,
not just in matter sexual, but matters otherwise, uh, the false destructive,
uh, but it's not totally destructive, right? So we're fallen,
but not ruined. Um, nature is harmed, uh,
not totally corrupted. Now, when we look at then,
um, marriage under the old law, we can see in God's divine pedagogy,
what he's doing of course is leading, um,
leading man, uh, gradually step by step, closer to himself,
restoring us step by step. And we can,
we can focus here in marriage on some of that restoration,
obviously in the old Testament, it's not perfect. Uh,
that is to say the restoration is not completely takes us only so far. Uh,
but he does take us pretty far. Right. Um, on the one hand, um,
you still have polygamy obviously and divorce, right?
Those are the two main problems if you want,
that are not yet overcome, uh, in the old covenant,
but nonetheless, um, we can see some very positive elements,
uh, here in the old covenant. Um, you'll notice for example,
that the law of Moses protects the Y from arbitrary domination at the hands of
the husband. So some of these effects of the fall are curved, uh,
by the law restrained by the law, uh, if not cured altogether,
and then perhaps, uh, best of all we see in the old covenant,
the Lord using marriage, you might say Christian marriage,
a marriage in its ideal, as a,
as a way to explain the relationship between, uh,
himself and his people, uh, this,
um,
this relationship that you find in the books of Ruth and Tobin and so on,
and so beautifully explained, uh, this is going to be of course,
uh,
what reminds us most of Christian marriage when we get it all right in the Lord,
then, uh, famously we get, uh, several, uh,
gospel texts, uh, concerning marriage,
that elevate marriage, uh, here,
and really recall us as the Lord said to the beginning, the key here,
of course, the key tax that really grabs your attention, uh,
is the prohibition on divorce, right? So when the Lord, uh,
prohibits the divorce and says that it's permitted for the hardness of heart,
uh, and calls us back now in the gospel to that original,
um, that original plan for marriage, uh, when he does this,
um, he, of course is restoring the original order of creation.
And then some, um,
we don't go back to Adam and Eve and, and, uh,
the predator natural gifts that they enjoyed, right.
Obviously we're still falling, but in a certain respect,
our vocation is higher than theirs in Christ.
And so the Lord takes marriage, uh, to new height,
takes us back to the origin. Restores is completely, uh, again,
and then some right above all. You might think of this, um,
in Adam and Eve, uh, certainly in the revelation to Adam and Eve, uh,
the Trinity is revealed, um, if at all rather obliquely, whereas of course,
in the new Testament, this inner life of God is fully manifest fully on display.
That's really quite the point of the gospel that the Lord lays open to us,
the inner life of God, uh, the relationship among father, son, and Holy spirit,
and enables us to participate in that. And here we,
then we see the fullness of the meaning of marriage as a reflection,
a sacrament, if you want of that interior life of God,
the communion of persons, all right, let's turn to now, um,
the standard, uh, distinction that we have,
the categories that we have for the sacraments and apply these to marriage and
see how that shakes out. So you remember, we distinguish,
um, um, between the sign,
right? And the reality,
hold on a second here, I'll do this bit. So we have, uh,
the sign on the one hand and the race, the reality, the interior,
meaning the grace communicated on the other hand, the sign of course, uh,
breaks down into form and matter and matter itself into proximate matter and
remote matter, right? So we'll take a look at, uh,
how marriage fits these categories. Now, now you notice some of the,
some of the sacraments really neatly fit, uh, these, uh,
these categories of matter and form and so on. And some of them not so much,
right? So for example, there are sacraments that really, that really lack a, uh,
remote matter penance would be an example of that. Um,
the sacrament of ordination is another example of that, and really,
probably also merits, right.
You might think of the man and the woman themselves as the remote matter,
but that's a little bit little odd. It seems a little forced, uh, in any case,
um, you have another kind of, um, analogous,
uh, application of the categories with approximate matter. Uh,
there is a necessary action in marriage, right?
And it's consummation,
but of course it would be obnoxious if this consummation where a ritual action,
uh, that is to say, it's not part of the liturgy. Okay. Uh, very obviously now,
um, but it is necessary for the sacrament. You can't have a marriage,
a marriage is not,
the union is not complete until it's consummated by the conjugal act, right?
The form, the words of course, uh, are the vows now,
by the way, if you think of nonessential matters.
So these are the essential parts of the sacrament.
If you think of nonessential matter, uh, the categories can fit very nicely,
right? So I think for example of rings, right, and not essential matter,
you'd have a nonessential remote matter of rings. Uh,
the proximate matter would be the ritual action of the man and woman putting the
rings on each other. Uh, and then the words would be what,
what they say when they perform that ritual action, right?
With this ring I thee wet or something like that. Right. Um, that's not,
of course essential to the matter, I mean, essential to the sacrament, uh,
the exchange of rings, uh,
you have other customs that are more culturally bound. Um,
I think in some Hispanic cultures, for example, um, the,
uh, the priest puts a lasso around husband and wife,
right. And I think there's also, uh, an aspect of the liturgy where, um,
the husband gives to the wife a bag of coins, uh, symbolizing,
uh, his commitment to, uh, to supporting, uh, his,
his new wife here. But obviously all of those things are not essential.
The essential part is the exchange of vows. Um, and of course,
uh, the consummation of the marriage, um,
the interior meaning of the marriage,
I was pretty straightforward here that the grace given the grace,
given in marriage is the grace for the husband and wife to be,
uh, as I said, a few minutes ago,
a sacrament of the relationship between Christ and the church, right. Uh,
and this is why, of course, uh,
marriage Christian marriage has to be indissoluble it's indissoluble,
um, in order for it to be what it is in order for it to, to be this,
uh, this image of the relationship between Christ and the church,
the bond has to be indissoluble, uh,
because the bond between Christ and the church is indissoluble alright,
let's go on then, um, to a few other,
um, to a few other topics here, uh,
related to marriage first, I wanna,
I want to review what we've seen earlier in the class,
on the relationship between marriage and virginity, right?
So we've said now many times, um, it's pretty clear, you know,
the teaching of the gospel that marriage belongs to this world, right.
As the Lord said, that in the eschaton, we're not married nor given in marriage.
And so that, that's the reason, uh,
for the traditional teaching on the superiority of the religious life. Right.
Um, but we've said now, I think a couple of times that marriage in turn,
while, while I'm inferior, if you want to, um,
to the religious life, in terms of its eschatological symbolism, it's superior,
uh, in the, in this, that, in this life,
marriage is the only bond that's truly indissoluble right. So,
um, you may know, um, that, um,
any religious vows, uh,
the church has the authority to dispense a person from those,
but in the case of marriage,
the church has no authority to dispense a married person from marriage vows.
And so you get a truly indissoluble bond with marriage, right.
Even though, um, a less clear if you want eschatological mirror,
um, but you do get, um, in the celibate life,
a consecrated celibacy that S kind of logical superiority.
So it's a nice kind of, um, compliment here, uh,
marriage and virginity compliment each other.
The other point I mentioned about this,
and sometimes this has happened in the history of the church that,
that marriage can be thought of really almost as evil. Right.
Um, so that virginity becomes the only option. Um,
when you think of it that way, then virginity,
isn't really something spectacular, right.
It's just the basic requirement for everybody. Um, so, so,
um, the way to think of it, right in certain respect, marriage is good.
Virginity is better. Um, virginity is good in a certain respect.
Uh, the marriage bond, uh, is superior, but again,
you want to avoid any kind of, um, sense of competition or, or,
um, sort of measuring against one another, right.
Want to think of both virginity and marriage as particular gifts and goods given
by the Lord to us, um, that really each in its own way,
lead us all, uh, to our final communion with him.
All right, let's go on to another topic now, uh, marriage and the liturgy.
So, um,
want to draw your attention to a basic, uh,
difference between East and West in their understanding of marriage.
It's kind of bizarre in a sense that, um, something so,
um, important could be different between East and West,
but in any case in the West,
the ministers of the sacrament of marriage are the man and the woman,
the man ministers, the sacrament to the woman and the woman to the man.
So in the liturgy, in the, in the, um,
the marriage liturgy of, they are the ministers of the sacrament in the West,
the priest, or the deacon, or whomever is not the minister, but,
but, uh, uh, officiates or witnesses, uh, the marriage,
by the way, this, uh, understanding of,
of men and women as the ministers of sacrament,
it's one of the most obvious examples that shows why the word minister can be
applied properly to a layman, right. But that's another matter.
All right now in the East, it's very different. Um,
in the ease, the priest is the minister of the sacrament.
And so the priest of course, has to be there for the sacrament, uh, to be valid.
Now, uh, this is why this, this,
this helps to explain this liturgical difference in difference in Sacramento
theology, uh, helps to explain why, um,
between the Orthodox and Catholic,
sometimes there's some disagreement over marriage, right? Um,
for Catholics, um, because man and woman are the minister,
right. We generally accept, uh,
the sacrament of marriage as performed by separated communities, right?
So a Protestant, uh, man and woman can get, um,
a sacrament of marriage and are presumed to have a sacrament of marriage unless
shown otherwise. Right. Whereas the East, of course, if you look at that,
if you look at a Protestant marriage, uh we're at,
obviously there would be no priest there, right. A genuine priest. Um,
if you look at it from the Eastern point of view, there's no priest.
And so they're four, they might think it's invalid.
So you get these kinds of disagreements, um, about, about marriage,
another huge point of contention between the Orthodox and Catholics on marriage
is that the Orthodox, uh, admit divorce and remarriage, uh,
and Catholics of course do not. But, uh, again, that's another matter. Okay.
Let's go on to, um,
matrimonial consent consent is hugely important in the sacrament of marriage and
the basic idea, I want to articulate this way. Um, and again,
perhaps too superficially, but simply, uh,
is this that you get what you choose, right?
So again, you have to choose it in order to get it, uh,
so freedom. And if you don't choose it, you don't get it.
And now what are you choosing? You're choosing, uh, the,
the contract will goods, fidelity, uh,
pur permanence and openness to life, right? So, so again,
if, if someone is not really free to choose them,
then they don't get, uh, of course what they didn't choose.
And if they choose something else, if they didn't intend, for example, fidelity,
or if they didn't intend to permanence at the time of the exchange of vows,
then they didn't get it. If you don't choose Christian marriage,
you don't get Christian marriage now, um, when it comes to consent,
there's a number of things that can, um, make a person,
uh, less than free, uh, to contract a marriage.
Right? So for example,
a person could be impeded by an ecclesiastical law. Okay. It's,
it's in Canon law for example, that if a priest tries to get married,
it's invalid. He can't, he's not free to marry again.
Or religious tries to get married, uh,
without having been dispensed from religious fouls, it's automatically invalid,
right? There was a time in the church, uh,
I think earlier in the middle ages where those would have been considered valid,
but elicit, right. Uh, but, but, uh, again, I think in the middle ages,
sometime that law changed, the Pope changed the law. Uh,
it really is a matter of a form so that, um, when,
if a priest or religious were to try to,
confect a marriage it's automatically invalid.
So they're not free by ecclesiastical law to do that.
There are other laws that bind the baptize. So for example,
a baptized Catholic is not free to get married before justice of the peace,
where it's not free without permission, uh, to get married. Um,
let's say in a prod Lutheran church or something like this. Okay. Uh,
you can do that if you get permission, but you have to get permission.
So otherwise you're not free. And if you're not free, uh, you can't,
uh, confect the marriage.