World Marriage Day
Marriage is a Creator's idea. The Catholic Church teaches: " Marriage, then, is far from being the effect of chance or the result of the blind evolution of natural forces. It is in reality the wise and provident institution of God the Creator, whose purpose was to effect in man His loving design. As a consequence, husband and wife, through that mutual gift of themselves, which is specific and exclusive to them alone, develop that union of two persons in which they perfect one another, cooperating with God in the generation and rearing of new lives. " (Humanae vitae II, 8). If we were to stick to Her "recipe" for marriage, we would all be very happy. This "prescription" is the commandment of love of God and neighbor, enriched in the Ten Commandments. All tragedies in marriages stem from departing from the commandments. God-ordained marriage was designed to be unbreakable. “Therefore, what God has joined together, no human being must separate” - these are the words of Christ himself (cf. Mt 19: 6). That there would be no doubt, Christ added: “whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.” (cf. Mt 19:9)
These words of Christ cannot be recalled. Even the Pope and the Church are not empowered to change God's concept of marriage as an indissolubly relationship until death. It will remain valid until the end of the world, no matter how people disbelieve it and try to deny it. God knows that conjugal love is difficult, humanly difficult to achieve. That is why He endowed this love with means of special, supernatural support. I am thinking, of course, of the grace of the sacrament of marriage. I know beyond doubt that a married couple which continue to benefit from these graces will endure all crises and difficulties. Experience teaches that.
The basic question that we must ask ourselves is: what is the purpose of marriage at all? This is very important. If someone were to take a survey on the street, it would turn out that many of the goals of marriage would be mentioned. Most of the respondents would probably answer that the primary function of marriage is to beget and raise children, but that is not the primary goal at all. Of course, an important task of marriage is the transmission of life in love, but there is something more important. What is the purpose of man's stay on earth? Salvation. So, what is the purpose of marriage? Salvation too - a salvation to be achieved on this particular path. Man lives in this world to achieve salvation. (The godless world tempts us with the vision that we live to have fun. However, this is a delusion that, unfortunately, many have fallen into). It is precisely in the context of the joint pursuit of salvation that we should speak about conjugal love. Thus, building a love relationship between spouses is the most important task and, at the same time, the source of happiness for the spouses. Love in a married couple's relationship is the primary source of the happiness that comes from marriage (apart from the previously mentioned relationship of love with God). Another source of happiness in marriage is love relationships with children, parents and in-laws, and with others.
We realize that life on this earth after original sin is not life in Paradise. However, if the husband and wife love each other, if they both faithfully fulfill their marriage vow, then they create a safe friendship at home and a little piece of heaven on earth. We cannot ensure love and happiness for all the inhabitants of our planet. However, it is up to us whether we return to paradise in our marriage and create an oasis of love, even if the people around us live in aggression, hostility, selfishness, arrogance or isolation.
People who seek God, somehow find Him and try to worship Him do not yet become Church. We become church only when God, in His mercy, descends in us and among us, to embrace us with His saving and sanctifying presence. Therefore, the first builder of the Church is always God Himself. People can only build some pseudo-Churches on their own. The words of the Psalm 127, " Unless the LORD build the house, they labor in vain who build" they relate most particularly to the Church. Failure to understand this truth was a fundamental mistake of the builders of the Tower of Babel.
In the light of the above intuition, we can see especially clearly why in the Catholic Church we attach so much importance to the sacrament of marriage. Namely, what is baptism for an individual person and what the sending of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles is for the whole Church, what is for the married community their vow made in the face of the Holy Trinity. Each of these events - and the founding of the Church at Pentecost, and the baptism and the sacrament of marriage - are the coming of God who wants to give himself to people and makes us able to be transformed into an everlasting gift to him. Since the man and the woman acceded to the sacrament of marriage and God Himself made their community His Temple, they have a duty to care for God's presence in their marriage and family.
Until Tomorrow
fr. george