Marriage
Holy Scripture affirms that man and woman
were created for one another: "It is not good that the man should be
alone. The woman, "flesh of his flesh," his equal, his nearest in all
things, is given to him by God as a "helpmate"; she thus represents
God from whom comes our help. "Therefore a man leaves his father and his
mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh. The Lord himself
shows that this signifies an unbreakable union of their two lives by recalling
what the plan of the Creator had been "in the beginning": "So
they are no longer two, but one flesh. (Gen 2:18-25, Mt 19:6)
"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. (#1601)
In his preaching Jesus unequivocally taught the
original meaning of the union of man and woman as the Creator willed it from
the beginning permission given by Moses to divorce one's wife was a concession
to the hardness of hearts. 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 19:8, Mt 19:6)
This unequivocal
insistence on the indissolubility of the marriage bond may have left some
perplexed and could seem to be a demand impossible to realize. However, Jesus
has not placed on spouses a burden impossible to bear, or too heavy - heavier
than the Law of Moses. 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. This grace of Christian marriage is a fruit of Christ's cross, the
source of all Christian life. (Mk 8:34, Mt 11:29-30, Mt 19:11 #1615)
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. (#1661)
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. (#1662)
Since marriage establishes the
couple in a public state of life in the Church, it is fitting that its
celebration be public, in the framework of a liturgical celebration, before the
priest (or a witness authorized by the Church), the witnesses, and the assembly
of the faithful. (#1663)
Unity,
indissolubility, and openness to fertility are essential to marriage. Polygamy
is incompatible with the unity of marriage; divorce separates what God has
joined together; the refusal of fertility turns married life away from its
"supreme gift," the child. (#1664) Thus, the marriage bond
has been established by God himself in such a way that a marriage concluded and
consummated between baptized persons can never be dissolved. This bond, which
results from the free human act of the spouses and their consummation of the
marriage, is a reality, henceforth irrevocable, and gives rise to a covenant
guaranteed by God's fidelity. The Church does not have the power to contravene
this disposition of divine wisdom. (#1640)
