The Theology of Marriage

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• The Theology of Marriage

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Marriage and Sacrament

• What is a sacrament?
• An efficacious sign of grace, instituted by
  Christ and entrusted to the Church, through which
  Divine life is infused by the power of the Holy
  Spirit.

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Objective Goal for Marriage Preparation Ministers

• A man and woman should come to the sacrament of
  marriage with the understanding that they have
  been created by God, in the image and likeness of
  God, and are called through the vocation of
  marriage to reveal Gods love to one another, and
  Gods saving presence to the world.

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Together, Created in the Image of God

• When God created man, he made him in the likeness
  of God he created them male and female. When
  they were created, he blessed them and named them
  man. (Gen 51-2)

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Together, Created in the Image of God

• The Lord God formed man out of the clay of the
  ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of
  life and so man became a living being (Gen 27).

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Together, Created in the Image of God

• This one at last is bone of my bone and flesh of
  my flesh this one shall be called woman, for out
  of her man this one has been taken.
• That is why a man leaves his father and mother
  and clings to his wife and the two of them become
  one body (Gen 2 23-24).

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What does this say about the nature and purpose
of Marriage?

• The Hebrew understanding of body refers to the
  whole person, flesh and life-breath of God.
• Marriage is for the good of the whole persons,
  who come together as man and woman, complementing
  one another in the image of God.
• The new reality created in Christian marriage is
  life-giving and reveals the presence of God to
  the world.

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Reflection Question

• Think of a married couple who are or havebeen a
  role model to you as a couple.
• What is it about them that you admire?
• How do you feel when you are with them?

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Marriage as a Sacrament

• Saint John Paul II spoke of this reality in the
  apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris Consortio
• This conjugal communion sinks its roots in the
  natural complementarity that exists between man
  and woman, and is nurtured through the personal
  willingness of the spouses to share their entire
  life-project, what they have and what they are
  for this reason such communion is the fruit and
  the sign of a profoundly human need. God takes up
  this human need, confirms it, purifies it and
  elevates it, leading it to perfection through the
  sacrament of matrimony the Holy Spirit who is
  poured out in the sacramental celebration offers
  Christian couples the gift of a new communion of
  love that is the living and real image of that
  unique unity which makes of the Church the
  indivisible Mystical Body of the Lord Jesus.

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Christian Marriage is a Sacramentat Two Levels

• Foundational level A Christian marriage reveals
  and celebrates an intimate communion of life and
  love between a man and a woman.
• Symbolic level A Christian marriage proclaims,
  makes explicit and celebrates an intimate
  communion of life, love and grace between Christ
  and His Church.

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Marriage as a Sacrament

• Canon 1055- The matrimonial covenant, by which a
  man and a woman establish between themselves a
  partnership of the whole of life and which is
  ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses
  and the procreation and education of offspring,
  has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity
  of a sacrament between the baptized.

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Sacramental Marriage

• The Sacrament of Marriage reveals an indissoluble
  love that is
• Free
• Faithful
• Forever
• Fruitful
• For the good of the spouses and all they
  encounter

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Foundational Level of the Marriage Sacrament

• The sacrament of marriage requires the full and
  free consent of the woman and the man entering
  into the marriage covenant.
• The ritual asks, Have you come here freely and
  without reservation to give yourselves to each
  other in in marriage? Will you love and honor
  each other as man and wife for the rest of your
  lives? Will you accept children lovingly from
  God, and bring them up according to the law of
  Christ and his Church?

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Marriage as Sacrament- Foundational Level

• The bride and groom are the ordinary minsters of
  this sacrament.
• The priest or deacon, as the witness of the
  Church, invites the couple to declare their
  intentions by saying

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Vow of Consent
I, _____ take you _____ to be my wife/husband.
I promise to be true to you in good times and in
bad, in sickness and in health. I will love
you and honor you all the days of my life.
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Sign of Covenantal Love

• After receiving their consent the priest or
  deacon says, You have declared your consent
  before the Church. May the Lord in his goodness
  strengthen your consent and fill you both with
  his blessings. What God has joined, men must not
  divide.

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Sign of Covenantal Love

• The rings are a sign of unending covenantal love.
  In exchanging the rings the bride and groom say
• ____ take this ring as a sign of my love and
  fidelity. In the name of the Father, and of the
  Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

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Covenantal Love

• Covenantal love transcends self, reaching beyond
  ones self to another.
• Covenantal love in marriage is an irrevocable
  love formed when two equals join to create a new
  reality.
• It involves a lifelong partnership of love for
  the mutual well-being of both the husband and
  wife and their children.

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Covenantal Love

• The Christian husband and wife assist one another
  in realizing his or her highest potential
  physically, emotionally and spiritually.
• Christian love is rooted in service of one
  another.
• All Christians are asked to give way to one
  another because you stand in awe of Christ. St.
  Pauls letter to the Corinthians describes
  Christian love
• Love is patient, love is kind. It is not
  jealous. Love is not pompous, it is not inflated,
  it is not rude, it does not seek its own
  interests, it is not quick tempered, it does not
  brood over injury, it does not rejoice over
  wrongdoing but rejoices with truth. It bears all
  things, believes all things, hopes all things,
  endures all things.

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Reflection Question

• Think back our first reflection of the married
  couple whom you admire.
• If you replace the word Love with that couples
  name. Is the reading accurate?
• If you replace your names with the word Love what
  statements are true?

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Symbolic Level of the Marriage Sacrament

• The marriage rite calls the couple to be a living
  sign of the Church in the world. In the Nuptial
  Blessing, the priest or deacon prays,
• Father, to reveal the plan of your love, you
  made the union of husband and wife an image of
  the covenant between you and your people. In
  fulfillment of this sacrament, the marriage of
  Christian man and woman is a sign of the marriage
  between Christ and the Church. (119)

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Symbolic Levelthe Domestic Church

• Marriage does not isolate the couple but immerses
  the couple in life. From the couple springs
  life.
• In loving and serving each other, their children
  and their community, the married couple is a
  living witness to Christ.
• This embodiment of Christs presence by the
  family in their day to day living is known as the
  domestic church.

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• The Beginning