Cathal BarryThe Church teaches that marriage between baptised persons is a true sacrament, writes Cathal Barry
The Church teaches that the matrimonial union of man and woman is indissoluble: God himself has determined it: “what therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder” (Mt 19:6).
This unequivocal insistence on the indissolubility of the marriage bond, according to the Catechism, may leave some perplexed and could seem to be a demand impossible to realise.
However, the key teaching document states that Jesus has “not placed on spouses a burden impossible to bear, or too heavy”.
“By coming to restore the original order of creation disturbed by sin, he himself gives the strength and grace to live marriage in the new dimension of the Reign of God. It is by following Christ, renouncing themselves, and taking up their crosses that spouses will be able to ‘receive’ the original meaning of marriage and live it with the help of Christ,” the Catechism says.
“This grace of Christian marriage is a fruit of Christ’s cross, the source of all Christian life,” it adds.
This is what the Apostle Paul makes clear when he says: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her,” adding “for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one. This is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the Church” (Eph 5:25-26, 31-32).
The entire Christian life, according to the Catechism, bears the mark of the spousal love of Christ and the Church.
“Already Baptism, the entry into the People of God, is a nuptial mystery; it is so to speak the nuptial bath… which precedes the wedding feast, the Eucharist. Christian marriage in its turn becomes an efficacious sign, the sacrament of the covenant of Christ and the Church. Since it signifies and communicates grace, marriage between baptised persons is a true sacrament of the New Covenant,” the Church’s teaching document states.
Virginity for the sake of the kingdom of Heaven, according to Church teaching, is an “unfolding of baptismal grace, a powerful sign of the supremacy of the bond with Christ and of the ardent expectation of his return, a sign which also recalls that marriage is a reality of this present age which is passing away”.
“Both the sacrament of Matrimony and virginity for the Kingdom of God come from the Lord himself,” the Catechism states.
“It is he who gives them meaning and grants them the grace which is indispensable for living them out in conformity with his will. Esteem of virginity for the sake of the kingdom and the Christian understanding of marriage are inseparable, and they reinforce each other,” it says.
“Whoever denigrates marriage also diminishes the glory of virginity. Whoever praises it makes virginity more admirable and resplendent. What appears good only in comparison with evil would not be truly good. The most excellent good is something even better than what is admitted to be good” (St John Chrysostom).