Vatican II and the Church that Jesus Founded: Marriage

What did Vatican II teach about the Church which Jesus Christ founded? This series is meant to show what elements of the Church Vatican II teaches as being ordained by God rather than invented by man. This installment looks at marriage as both an institution and a sacrament.


Marriage was established by God
"The intimate partnership of married life and love has been established by the Creator and qualified by His laws, and is rooted in the [con]jugal covenant of irrevocable personal consent. ... For, God Himself is the author of matrimony, endowed as it is with various benefits and purposes." (Gaudium et Spes 48)

"Firmly established by the Lord, the unity of marriage will radiate from the equal personal dignity of wife and husband, a dignity acknowledged by mutual and total love." (Gaudium et Spes 49)


Marriage was ordered to the begetting of children
"By their very nature, the institution of matrimony itself and conjugal love are ordained for the procreation and education of children, and find in them their ultimate crown." (Gaudium et Spes 48)

"Marriage and conjugal love are by their nature ordained toward the begetting and educating of children. Children are really the supreme gift of marriage and contribute very substantially to the welfare of their parents." (Gaudium et Spes 50)


Marriage is not only ordered to the begetting of children
"Marriage to be sure is not instituted solely for procreation; rather, its very nature as an unbreakable compact between persons, and the welfare of the children, both demand that the mutual love of the spouses be embodied in a rightly ordered manner, that it grow and ripen. Therefore, marriage persists as a whole manner and communion of life, and maintains its value and indissolubility, even when despite the often intense desire of the couple, offspring are lacking." (Gaudium et Spes 50)


Marriage is the conjugal union of one man and one woman
"Thus a man and a woman, who by their compact of conjugal love "are no longer two, but one flesh" (Matt. 19:ff), render mutual help and service to each other through an intimate union of their persons and of their actions." (Gaudium et Spes 48)


Marriage is an irrevocable (i.e. permanent) bond
"The intimate partnership of married life and love has been established by the Creator and qualified by His laws, and is rooted in the [con]jugal covenant of irrevocable personal consent. Hence by that human act whereby spouses mutually bestow and accept each other a relationship arises which by divine will and in the eyes of society too is a lasting one." (Gaudium et Spes 48)


Marriage is a sign of the relationship between Christ and his Church
"Christ the Lord abundantly blessed this many-faceted love, welling up as it does from the fountain of divine love and structured as it is on the model of His union with His Church." (Gaudium et Spes 48; cf. Eph. 5:21-33)


Marriage is governed by Christ and his Church
"Authentic married love is caught up into divine love and is governed and enriched by Christ's redeeming power and the saving activity of the Church, so that this love may lead the spouses to God with powerful effect and may aid and strengthen them in sublime office of being a father or a mother. For this reason Christian spouses have a special sacrament by which they are fortified and receive a kind of consecration in the duties and dignity of their state." (Gaudium et Spes 48)

Retreat: Christianity is a Marriage

This is the fourth in a series of posts dedicated to the Sons and Daughters of the Light retreat. First was an overview of the weekend. Second was a lengthy and detailed recap of the events. What follow are thoughts about the retreat from my own perspective and experiences.

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Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready. (Revelation 19:7)

I betrothed you to Christ to present you as a pure bride to her one husband. (2 Corinthians 11:2)

Tracey talked about realizing that, instead of praying for God to be in her life, she should have been praying to be in God's life. That is, God is already in her life, He is in all of our lives, He manifest Himself in flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. What's remaining is for us to be in Him. God came to be with us in the flesh so that we could be with God in spirit.

Then she reintroduced us to the marriage vows: she read them as between God and us individually. "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." To hear those words coming from God, and then to say them back to Him, adds another dimension to marriage. Tracey used the example of her life being a marriage ceremony to Christ. She pictures herself maybe three-quarters of the way down the aisle.

So picture yourself in a church, whether it be a quiet chapel or a grand cathedral. You are walking down the aisle to Christ, to marry yourself to Christ and devote yourself entirely to him as he has devoted himself entirely to you. Christ is the Bridegroom, the Church is the Bride, and so all who make up the Church are spouses of Christ as well.

Picture the aisle of the church, with Christ at one end. He does not stand at the altar, he stands in place of the altar: he is the Priest and Victim. As you look to your left and right, you see row after row of pews. The walk down the aisle is not an easy one, because you must leave your burdens (to which you are so attached) behind to take up the yoke of Christ. How easy it would be to just stop and sit in a pew, instead of advancing down the aisle to Christ.

Don't let yourself be a spectator, a visitor, at your own wedding to Christ. Don't settle for less than Christ himself.