263 WE MARRY IN THE LORD

YOUCAT Lesson 263

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

263  Why is marriage indissoluble?

Marriage is triply indissoluble: first, because the essence of love is mutual self-giving without reservation; second, because it is an image of God’s unconditional faithfulness to his creation; and third, because it represents Christ’s devotion to his Church, even unto death on the cross.  [1605, 1612-1617, 1661]

…….Embroidery on cloth: …..The Sacred Heart of Jesus in Saint Nicolas’ Church, Ghent, Belgium…”I will never forget you.” –Isaiah 49:15d.  The Sacred heart of Jesus, a devotion revealed to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, represents Jesus’ love for all humanity.  It is for us to imitate Christ. …..263

  

At a time when 50 percent of marriages in many places end in divorce, every marriage that lasts is a great sign—ultimately a sign for God.  On this earth, where so much is relative, people ought to believe in God, who alone is absolute.  That is why everything that is not relative is so important: (as we find in) someone who speaks the truth absolutely or is absolutely loyal.  Absolute fidelity in marriage is not so much a human achievement as it is a testimony to the faithfulness of God, who is there even when we betray or forget him in so many ways.  To be married in the Church means to rely more on God’s help than on one’s own resources of love.

“Someone who loves a neighbor allows him to be as he is, as he was, and as he will be.”  Michel Quoist (1921-1997, French priest and author)

“To love a person means to see him as God intended him.”  Fyodor M. Dostoyevsky (1821-1881

 “To love someone means to be the only one to see a miracle that is invisible to others…”  Francois Mauriac (1885-1979)

 “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word…Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.”  Ephesians 5:25-26, 28

ARTICLE 7
THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY

I. MARRIAGE IN GOD'S PLAN

Marriage in the order of creation

 …….1605   Holy Scripture affirms that man and woman were created for one another: "It is not good that the man should be alone."(Genesis 2:18.)⁹²    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.(Compare Genesis 2:18-25.)⁹³    "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh."(Genesis 2:24.)⁹⁴    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."(Matthew 19:6.)⁹⁵ –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

 
Marriage in the Lord

…….1612   The nuptial covenant between God and his people Israel had prepared the way for the new and everlasting covenant in which the Son of God, by becoming incarnate and giving his life, has united to himself in a certain way all mankind saved by him, thus preparing for "the wedding-feast of the Lamb."(Revelation 19:7,9; compare Gaudium et Sps 22.)¹⁰⁴ –CCC

…….1613   On the threshold of his public life Jesus performs his first sign - at his mother's request - during a wedding feast.(Compare John 2:1-11.)¹⁰⁵    The Church attaches great importance to Jesus' presence at the wedding at Cana. She sees in it the confirmation of the goodness of marriage and the proclamation that thenceforth marriage will be an efficacious sign of Christ's presence. –CCC

1.    …….1614   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.(Compare Matthew 19:8.)¹⁰⁶    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."(Matthew 19:6.)¹⁰⁷ –CCC

…….1615   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.(Compare Mark 8:34; Matthew 11:29-30.)¹⁰⁸    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.(Compare Matthew 19:11.)¹⁰⁹    This grace of Christian marriage is a fruit of Christ's cross, the source of all Christian life. –CCC

…….1616   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 at once: "'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."(Ephesians 5:25-26,31-32; compare Genesis 2:24.)¹¹⁰ –CCC

…….1617   The entire Christian life 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.(Compare Ephesians 5:26-27.)¹¹¹   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 baptized persons is a true sacrament of the New Covenant.(Compare Denzinger-Schönmetzer 1800; Codex Iuris Canonici, Can. 1055 § 2.)¹¹² –CCC

IN BRIEF

…….1661 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 (Compare Council of Trent: Denzinger-Schönmetzer 1799). --CCC

Fourth Sunday of Lent, March 26, 2017

Fourth Sunday of Lent, March 26, 2017
Lectionary: 31

The first reading is from 1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a

The LORD said to Samuel:  "Fill your horn with oil, and be on your way.  I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have chosen my king from among his sons."

As Jesse and his sons came to the sacrifice, Samuel looked at Eliab and thought, "Surely the LORD's anointed is here before him."  But the LORD said to Samuel: "Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him.  Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart."  In the same way Jesse presented seven sons before Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen any one of these."  Then Samuel asked Jesse, "Are these all the sons you have?"  Jesse replied, "There is still the youngest, who is tending the sheep."  Samuel said to Jesse, "Send for him;  we will not begin the sacrificial banquet until he arrives here."  Jesse sent and had the young man brought to them.  He was ruddy, a youth handsome to behold 
and making a splendid appearance.  The LORD said, "There—anoint him, for this is the one!"  Then Samuel, with the horn of oil in hand, anointed David in the presence of his brothers; and from that day on, the spirit of the LORD rushed upon David.

  

Responsorial Psalm 23:1-3a, 3b-4, 5, 6

 R. (1) The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.

R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

He guides me in right paths
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
With your rod and your staff
that give me courage.

R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
you anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.

R. The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

  

The second reading is from Ephesians 5:8-14

  

Brothers and sisters:  You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth.  Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather expose them, for it is shameful even to mention the things done by them in secret; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light.  Therefore, it says: "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead,
and Christ will give you light."

The verse before the Gospel John 8:12

 I am the light of the world, says the Lord;

whoever follows me will have the light of life.

The Gospel of St. John 9:1-41

As Jesus passed by he saw a man blind from birth.  His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"  Jesus answered, "Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.  We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day.  Night is coming when no one can work.  While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."  When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes, and said to him, "Go wash in the Pool of Siloam" —which means Sent—.  So he went and washed, and came back able to see.

His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said, "Isn't this the one who used to sit and beg?"  Some said, "It is, " but others said, "No, he just looks like him."  He said, "I am."  So they said to him, "How were your eyes opened?"  He replied, "The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes
and told me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.'  So I went there and washed and was able to see."  And they said to him, "Where is he?"  He said, "I don't know."  They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees.

Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a sabbath.  So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see.  He said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see."  So some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, because he does not keep the sabbath."  But others said,
"How can a sinful man do such signs?"  And there was a division among them.  So they said to the blind man again,  "What do you have to say about him, since he opened your eyes?"  He said, "He is a prophet."

Now the Jews did not believe  that he had been blind and gained his sight until they summoned the parents of the one who had gained his sight.  They asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind?  How does he now see?"  His parents answered and said, "We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.  We do not know how he sees now, nor do we know who opened his eyes.  Ask him, he is of age; he can speak for himself."  His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone acknowledged him as the Christ, he would be expelled from the synagogue.  For this reason his parents said, "He is of age; question him."

So a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, "Give God the praise!  We know that this man is a sinner."  He replied, "If he is a sinner, I do not know.  One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see."  So they said to him, "What did he do to you?  How did he open your eyes?"  He answered them, "I told you already and you did not listen.  Why do you want to hear it again?  Do you want to become his disciples, too?"  They ridiculed him and said, "You are that man's disciple;  we are disciples of Moses!  We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this one is from."  The man answered and said to them, "This is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes.  We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him.  It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind.  If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything."  They answered and said to him, "You were born totally in sin, and are you trying to teach us?"  Then they threw him out.

When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, he found him and said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"  He answered and said, "Who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?"  Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, the one speaking with you is he."  He said, "I do believe, Lord," and he worshiped him.  Then Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind."

Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, "Surely we are not also blind, are we?"  Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, 'We see,' so your sin remains.

262 THE CHRISTIAN SACRAMENTAL MARRIAGE

YOUCAT Lesson 262

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

262  What is necessary for a Christian, sacramental marriage?

A sacramental marriage has three necessary elements: (a) free consent, (b) the affirmation of a life-long, exclusive union, and (c) openness to children.  The most profound thing about a Christian marriage, however, is the couple’s knowledge: “We are a living image of the love between Christ and the Church.”  [1644-1654, 1664]

Photo: …..Bob, Laurie and John on Lake Michigan at Baileys Harbor, Wi. …..262

The requirement of unity and indissolubility is directed in the first place against polygamy, which Christianity views as a fundamental offence against charity and human rights; it is also directed against what could be called “successive polygamy”, a series of non-binding love affairs that never arrive at one, great, irrevocable commitment.  The requirement of marital fidelity entails a willingness to enter a lifelong union, which excludes affairs outside the marriage.  The requirement of openness to fertility means that the Christian married couple is willing to accept any children that God may send them.  Couples who remain childless are called by God to become “fruitful” in some other way.  A marriage in which one of these elements is excluded at the marriage ceremony is not valid.

“An ‘open’ marriage is a marriage that was never entered into.”  Theodor Weissenborn (b. 1933, German writer)

“Love is perfected in fidelity.”  Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

MONOGAMY, POLYGAMY (from the Greek monos=one, polys=many, and gamos=marriage): marriage to one person or marriage to several persons at once.  Christianity forbids polygamy, which is also punished by the state as the crime of “bigamy” (Greek bi=two).

The unity and indissolubility of marriage

…….1644   The love of the spouses requires, of its very nature, the unity and indissolubility of the spouses' community of persons, which embraces their entire life: "so they are no longer two, but one flesh."(Matthew 19:6; compare Genesis 2:24.)¹⁵³   They "are called to grow continually in their communion through day-to-day fidelity to their marriage promise of total mutual self-giving."(Familiaris Consortio 19.)¹⁵⁴    This human communion is confirmed, purified, and completed by communion in Jesus Christ, given through the sacrament of Matrimony. It is deepened by lives of the common faith and by the Eucharist received together. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

…….1645   "The unity of marriage, distinctly recognized by our Lord, is made clear in the equal personal dignity which must be accorded to man and wife in mutual and unreserved affection."(Gaudium et Spes 49 § 2)¹⁵⁵    Polygamy is contrary to conjugal love which is undivided and exclusive.(Compare Familiaris Consortio 19.)¹⁵⁶ –CCC

The fidelity of conjugal love

…….1646   By its very nature conjugal love requires the inviolable fidelity of the spouses. This is the consequence of the gift of themselves which they make to each other. Love seeks to be definitive; it cannot be an arrangement "until further notice." The "intimate union of marriage, as a mutual giving of two persons, and the good of the children, demand total fidelity from the spouses and require an unbreakable union between them."(Gaudium et Spes 48 § 1.)¹⁵⁷ –CCC

…….1647   The deepest reason is found in the fidelity of God to his covenant, in that of Christ to his Church. Through the sacrament of Matrimony the spouses are enabled to represent this fidelity and witness to it. Through the sacrament, the indissolubility of marriage receives a new and deeper meaning. –CCC

…….1648   It can seem difficult, even impossible, to bind oneself for life to another human being. This makes it all the more important to proclaim the Good News that God loves us with a definitive and irrevocable love, that married couples share in this love, that it supports and sustains them, and that by their own faithfulness they can be witnesses to God's faithful love. Spouses who with God's grace give this witness, often in very difficult conditions, deserve the gratitude and support of the ecclesial community.(Compare Familiaris Consortio 20.)¹⁵⁸ –CCC

…….1649   Yet there are some situations in which living together becomes practically impossible for a variety of reasons. In such cases the Church permits the physical separation of the couple and their living apart. The spouses do not cease to be husband and wife before God and so are not free to contract a new union. In this difficult situation, the best solution would be, if possible, reconciliation. The Christian community is called to help these persons live out their situation in a Christian manner and in fidelity to their marriage bond which remains indissoluble.(Compare Familiaris Consortio 83; Codex Iuris Canonici, cann. 1151-1155.)¹⁵⁹ –CCC

…….1650   Today there are numerous Catholics in many countries who have recourse to civil divorce and contract new civil unions. In fidelity to the words of Jesus Christ - "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery"(Mark 10:11-12.)¹⁶⁰   the Church maintains that a new union cannot be recognized as valid, if the first marriage was. If the divorced are remarried civilly, they find themselves in a situation that objectively contravenes God's law. Consequently, they cannot receive Eucharistic communion as long as this situation persists. For the same reason, they cannot exercise certain ecclesial responsibilities. Reconciliation through the sacrament of Penance can be granted only to those who have repented for having violated the sign of the covenant and of fidelity to Christ, and who are committed to living in complete continence. –CCC

…….1651   Toward Christians who live in this situation, and who often keep the faith and desire to bring up their children in a Christian manner, priests and the whole community must manifest an attentive solicitude, so that they do not consider themselves separated from the Church, in whose life they can and must participate as baptized persons:

They should be encouraged to listen to the Word of God, to attend the Sacrifice of the Mass, to persevere in prayer, to contribute to works of charity and to community efforts for justice, to bring up their children in the Christian faith, to cultivate the spirit and practice of penance and thus implore, day by day, God's grace.(Familiaris Consortio 84.)¹⁶¹ –CCC

The openness to fertility

…….1652   "By its very nature the institution of marriage and married love is ordered to the procreation and education of the offspring and it is in them that it finds its crowning glory."(Gaudium et Spes 48 § 1; 50.)¹⁶²

Children are the supreme gift of marriage and contribute greatly to the good of the parents themselves. God himself said: "It is not good that man should be alone," and "from the beginning [he] made them male and female"; wishing to associate them in a special way in his own creative work, God blessed man and woman with the words: "Be fruitful and multiply." Hence, true married love and the whole structure of family life which results from it, without diminishment of the other ends of marriage, are directed to disposing the spouses to cooperate valiantly with the love of the Creator and Savior, who through them will increase and enrich his family from day to day.(Gaudium et Spes 50 § 1; compare Genesis 2:18; Matthew 19:4; Genesis 1:28.)¹⁶³ –CCC

…….1653   The fruitfulness of conjugal love extends to the fruits of the moral, spiritual, and supernatural life that parents hand on to their children by education. Parents are the principal and first educators of their children.(Compare Gravissimum Educationis 3.)¹⁶⁴    In this sense the fundamental task of marriage and family is to be at the service of life.(Compare Familiaris Consortio 28.)¹⁶⁵ –CCC

…….1654   Spouses to whom God has not granted children can nevertheless have a conjugal life full of meaning, in both human and Christian terms. Their marriage can radiate a fruitfulness of charity, of hospitality, and of sacrifice. –CCC

IN BRIEF

…….1664   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 (Gaudium et Spes 50 § 1). --CCC