why is marriage a sacrament in the catholic church

CK: So, okay. Youre confusing the good people that are listening to this podcast. You can do your Christian marriage. But thats not what the Church is saying. FHB: The sanctity of marriage in general is of another kind. The Nestorian Christians who accept just the first ecumenical council do not have marriage as a sacrament. Not typical because of our natures, because were not the same, men and women. CK: Yeah, thats right. Should it be urged on the contrary that as a result in extraordinary cases; these mixed marriages might be dissolved just as in the case of those contracted by two unbaptized persons, this inference is to be rejected. Scripture often refers to marriage, its origin and purpose, the meaning God gave to it, and its renewal in the covenant made by Jesus with his Church. And yet it has always been a principle with theologians that a matrimonium ratum et consummatum (i.e. XXIV: If any one shall say that matrimony is not truly and properly one of the Seven Sacraments of the Evangelical Law, instituted by Christ our Lord, but was invented in the Church by men, and does not confer grace, let him be anathema. The occasion of this solemn declaration was the denial by the so-called Reformers of the sacramental character of marriage. Well, so he put him into a deep sleep and the Father of the church said that in that sleep, he received the revelation of all that would follow from his descendancy in terms of the destiny of the human race. CK: FHB: While still a Catholic, he writes (Ad Uxorem, II, vii, in P.L., I, 1299): If therefore such a marriage is pleasing to God, wherefore should it not turn out happily, so that it will not be troubled by afflictions and needs and obstacles and contaminations, since it enjoys the protection of the Divine grace? But if Divine grace and its protection are, as Tertullian asserts, given with marriage, we have therein the distinctive moment which constitutes a religious action (already known for other reasons as a sign of Divine grace) an efficacious sign of grace, that is, a true Sacrament of the New Dispensation. Such marriages may occur in two ways. The Sacrament of Marriage, on the contrary, follows the nature of a contract in all these matters. Okay. And we even have the Norbertines in this part of the world. So people always say, Well, the Jerusalem church. And you think of modern charismatics or something like that, but actually, you ought to think of the 12th and 13th centuries in the Middle Ages where all of these married people, no one batted an eye if both of them went to monasteries and continued their work. Amen. Evidently, therefore, he includes marriage among the sacraments, and considers the grace resulting from it a sacramental grace. Is marriage a religious thing? Hence only one who has been validly baptized can contract a marriage which is a sacrament; but every one can contract it who has been validly baptized, whether he has remained true to the Christian faith, or become a heretic, or even an infidel. FHB: But the image and likeness is found in both male and female. So, I want to live this as a sacrament with my wife or with my husband. The third opinion is upheld by Vasquez and Thomas Sanchez, and is at the present time vigorously defended by Billot (De sacramentis: II, De matrimonio, thesis xxxviii, sec. For, although Christ has raised marriage or the marriage contract to the dignity of a sacrament (as will be shown below), yet marriage, even among Christians, has not thereby lost its natural significance. Im Cy Kellett, your host. ): If any brother bath a wife that believeth not, and she consent to dwell with him, let him not put her away. FHB: What man in his sober senses could so regard it? FHB: Then you will see your wedding not as a one-day event but as the door to a great adventure that . But thats something the Church can do. Peter Lombard (whose fourth book of sentences was commentated by Durandus), and his most distinguished commentators St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Bonaventure, Petrus de Palude. FHB: Again, though he seems to understand that marriage, also, must be administered by the ministers of the Church, it cannot be denied that the contracting parties in Christian marriage must be guided by ecclesiastical regulations, and cannot act otherwise than as ministers subject to the Church or dispensers of the sacrament. You can do it. All right. - The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix FHB: marriage between baptized persons) is really a sacrament of the New Law in the strict sense of the word is for all Catholics an indubitable truth. God made man in His image and likeness and male and female, he created them. So, we appreciate if you would share it. V., Q. xi (fol. FHB: Or is that a wrong way to talk about it? And so, theyre really offended nowadays, even Catholics, when you say its procreation. Only one prominent theologian can be named who denied that marriage confers sanctifying grace, and consequently that it is a sacrament of the New Law in the strict sense of the wordDurandus of St. Pourcain, afterwards Bishop of Meaux. Well, yeah. They know what they doing and it was a Christian community more like that of Jerusalem. So, we have Adam and Eve, Adam-. As it is certain, therefore, from the point of view of the Church that marriage as a sacrament is fulfilled only through the mutual consent of the contracting parties, it is a matter of secondary consideration, how and in what sense the matter and form of this sacrament are to be taken. This view may today be regarded as abandoned, and cannot be reconciled with the official decisions since given by the Holy See. There is some truth to that. The efficient cause of the marriage contract, as well as of the sacrament, was even in this case the mutual intention of marriage, although expression was not given to it in the regular way. No. The Ministers of the Sacrament This argument reversed, together with the reason of fitness mentioned above, tells in favor of the sacramentality of a marriage contracted with ecclesiastical dispensation between a baptized and an unbaptized person. FHB: But its also a sacrament of the Catholic Church. FHB: The Sacrament of Marriage is a lasting commitment of a man and a woman to a lifelong partnership, established for the good of each other and the procreation of their children. Marriage under the regime of sin 1606 Every man experiences evil around him and within himself. This view was derived from the fact that marriage, according to Christs command, is absolutely indissoluble. mor., II, 928). Freisen (Geschichte des canonischen Eherechts, Tubingen, 1888). In most of the other sacraments also there is this distinction between sacrament in fieri and in facto esse; but the continuance of the other sacraments is based mostly on the inamissible character which they impress upon the soul of the recipient. ii, thes. As long as both live, there remains a something attached to the marriage, which neither mutual separation nor union with a third can remove; in such cases, indeed, it remains for the aggravation of the guilt of their crime, not for the strengthening of the union. Man and woman were created for each other. Hence it might easily be inferred that the sacerdotal blessing is the grace-giving element, or form of the sacrament, and that the priest is the minister. 124, col. 1): It seems that one who contracts marriage in the state of sin does not sin although the essence of marriage consists in the mutual consent, which the parties mutually express; this consent confers the sacrament and not the priest by his blessing; he only confers a sacramental. Further on, in dist. The original beautiful sacrament of humanity is ultimately that of the natural institution of marriage lifted by our Lord to the level of a sacrament, which bestows grace in view of signifying His union with His church that is with souls. In all these rituals and liturgical collections, marriage, contracted before the priest during the celebration of Mass, is accompanied by ceremonies and prayers similar to those used in connection with the other sacraments; in fact several of these rituals expressly call marriage a sacrament, and, because it is a sacrament of the living, require contrition for sin and the reception of the Sacrament of Penance before marriage is contracted (cf. Oh, my goodness gracious. q. However, it has been likewise emphasized that marriage must be contracted with the blessing of the priest and the approbation of the Church, for otherwise it would be a source not of Divine grace, but of malediction. But the fact is that couples can aspire to a spirituality which in the high middle ages led to a lot of couples, he went to monastery and she went to a convent. This is because marriage is a commitment by which spouses pledge to each other all aspects of their lives "until death do us part.". Marriage, a lifelong union between a man and a woman for procreation and mutual support, is a natural institution, but it is also one of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church. | Catholic Answers audio Catholic Answers Focus Why Is Marriage a Sacrament? Why is the Church so defensive about marriage even when it is not sacramental? The attending priest or deacon is the witness to what the two ministers of grace sacramentally perform as they become "one flesh.". ; Denzinger, Ritus orientalium, I, 150 sqq. And that was not as some scholars cynically pointed out, the sort of the medieval version of a divorce, is because they had lived out the ends of their marriage and saw their children happily married and with their own grandchildren and then they could live their lives in quiet contemplation happily maybe because they had means endowing a monastery, or doing something. Thats the primal revelation of the coming incarnate Redeemer. The effectual sanctification of the human race, or rather of individual men, had now to be accomplished in the way of redemption through the Promised Redeemer, the Son of God made Man. J. S. Assemani, Bibliotheca orientalis, III, i, 356; ii, 319 sqq. Maybe I didnt know that before, that theres this symbolism of Christ and the Church and marriage and all that. Then they get older, the kids leave the house and theyre left together, empty nest. FHB: FHB: The Catholic Church recognizes as sacramental, (1) the marriages between two baptized non-Catholic Christians or between two baptized Orthodox Christians, as well as (2) marriages between baptized non-Catholic Christians and Catholic Christians, [3] although in the latter case, consent from the diocesan bishop must be obtained, with this termed . It is the consummation, therefore, that constitutes the matter or the form. Marriage, even in our fallen state, we intuit the importance of this. 5:31-35). It is only on this hypothesis that we can rightly understand another passage from the same work of Tertullian (II, ix, in P.L., I, 1302): How can we describe the happiness of those marriages which the Church ratifies, the sacrifice strengthens, the blessing seals, the angels publish, the Heavenly Father propitiously beholds?. The view that most correctly explains this is perhaps the one that is generally prevalent today; in every contract two elements are to be distinguished, the offering of a right and the acceptance of it; the former is the foundation, the latter is the juridical completion. Whereas some sacraments are received only once, others require active and ongoing participation to foster the . Theologians with the greatest unanimity rejected this doctrine as new and opposed to the teaching of the Church, so that the celebrated theologian of the Council of Trent, Dominicus Soto, said of Durandus, that it was only with difficulty he had escaped the danger of being branded as a heretic. To complete our inquiry concerning the essence of the Sacrament of Marriage, its matter and form, and its minister, we have still to mention a theory that was defended by a few) jurists of the Middle Ages and has been revived by Dr. Jos. And as in the other sacraments something spiritual is signified by an external ceremony, so here in this sacrament the union of Christ and the Church is typified by the union of man and woman according to the Apostle: `This is a great sacrament, but I speak in Christ and in the Church. And as the sacraments effect what they signify, it is clear that the persons contracting marriage receive through this sacrament the grace by which they participate in the union of Christ and the Church. Hence the whole essence and grace-producing power of marriage consists, according to St. Thomas, in the union of man and woman (in presence of the priest), not in the additional blessing of the priest prescribed by the Church. But also, in daily acts of kindness, service, mutual love, and forgiveness couples are . The Sacrament of Marriage . In the case of two Catholics, this is hardly surprising; but in the case of a Catholic marrying a . Why Is Marriage a Sacrament? Ultimately, that is friendship, because friendship is love of the others true good. But thats in the Christian era, but lets just say for the whole existence of the human race-, FHB: The sacrament in fieri is the above-mentioned mutual declaration of consent; the sacrament in facto esse is the Divine bond which unites the married persons for life. The doctrine that marriage is a sacrament of the New Law has never been a matter of dispute between the Roman Catholic and any of the Oriental Churches separated from ita convincing proof that this doctrine has always been part of ecclesiastical tradition and is derived from the Apostles. As long as you realize that theres a difficulty, you are able to get around it through the grace and the power of God and your faith in Him. So, its true that men and women dont easily form friendships. Such a marriage, once it is consummated, is absolutely indissoluble, just as a consummated marriage between two baptized persons; under no circumstances may recourse be had to the Pauline Privilege, nor will any other dissolution be granted by Rome (for documents see Lehmkuhl, Theol. Some maintain that in both kinds of mixed marriages the baptized party receives the grace of the sacrament; others deny this in the case of a marriage contract contracted by unbelievers which subsequently becomes a mixed marriage, and affirm it in the case of a marriage contracted by a believer with an unbeliever in virtue of a dispensation from the Church; a third class again deny that there is a sacrament or sacramental grace in either case. So also ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. I. Starting at 8 a.m. But Im not going to do that. FHB: But this objection is baseless. Its odd because everybody does it everywhere you go. It reminds me of something. Real friendship is desiring the highest good for the other. Marriage is a strange institution. Okay. And, as we can distinguish between a contract in its origin and a contract in its continuance, so we can distinguish between the sacrament of marriage in fieri and in facto esse. The words, it seems, merely introduce a difficulty: whether this expresses his own view, he does not make clear, in so far as the contracting of marriage means the reception of a sacrament; in so far as it is the administration of a sacrament, he regards it as probable that the administering of a sacrament in sin is an additional sin only in the case of ministers ordained for the administration of the sacraments, but the contracting parties in marriage are not such ministers. For this opinion he appeals to Petrus de Palude (In IV Sent., dist. The history of theological reflection on marriage in the church shows a great deal of uncertainty and debate.1 At its low point, in the middle of the first millennium, marriage was only tolerated as something needed for the continuation of family and humanity. And of course in the Eastern churches, they require also the presence and blessing of a priest for the sacramental marriage. This authority regarding marriages Pius VI bases on their sacramentality; hence it seems that the marriage in question should be included among marriages that are sacraments. I mean, the statistics of human salvation are not really edifying or useful to consider. It was not, therefore, without good reason that our predecessors, Innocent III and Honorius III, affirmed that a certain sacrament of marriage existed ever among the believers and unbelievers. Because there is a number of persons we can help with some people, everybody, or practically everybody, or half the human race, or a third. From the earliest times this fundamental proposition has been upheld: Matrimonium facit consensus, i.e. What am I supposed to do to live it as a sacrament?. Let other people know whats going on here because we think its kind of important to let the culture know where we talk about Jesus and about things like marriage and all of that. Who were either widowers or just simply separated in religious life from their wives and who were able to run enormous farms because they did it before they entered. CK: Through the sacrament of Matrimony , the Church teaches that Jesus gives the strength and grace to live the real meaning of marriage . But people will say, Look, thats not really true that that marriage is this man and woman thing.. The marriage contracted validly while both were unbelievers continues to exist, and though under certain circumstances it is dissoluble, it is not rendered void simply because of the baptism of one of the parties, for, as Innocent III says (in IV, xix, 8), through the sacrament of baptism marriage is not dissolved, but sins are forgiven, and St. Paul expressly states (I Cor., vii, 12 sq. Cy Kellett: But so, in the very beginning of the book of Genesis, we have this kind of explication of marriage. It was not that way at all. And that union of the spouses in love is the part of marriage which subsists continually when it develops well, because of the fact that the couple are equal as a son and a daughter of God, of airs of grace and eternal life growing in grace, living a life of prayer, called to even a mystical union with the Lord, all of that comes together in that aspect of the relationship that they become true friends, that isnt friends have to be equals. ). The only way a natural marriage can be dissolved is in view of a sacramental marriage and the impossibility of a sacramental marriage with the one of the natural partners. We dont want that. This is a point that needs emphasizing, this basic sanctity of sex. No side brings convincing proof. This is nothing more than what the Council of Trent says in the chapter Tametsi (XXIV, i, de ref. Just as the soul of an apostate, which was once similarly wedded unto Christ and now separates itself from Him, does not, in spite of its loss of faith, lose the Sacrament of Faith, which it has received in the waters of regeneration. In these words, St. Augustine places marriage, which he names a sacrament, on the same level with Baptism and Holy Orders. After all, Matthew 19:6 addresses the permanent nature of marriage when stating that what God has joined together cannot be broken. It is hard to see why Melchior Canus tried to support his opinion by the opening words of the first quotation. Because the current culture has in fact separated procreation from sex. I would say, natural marriage is much more difficult because there, you have the cultural forms, which are mostly related to family, stability and continuation. You think of the various third orders in the Churchs history, the couples who both joined the third order of Saint Francis, which is by far the most influential, then theres third order Carmelites. But under the aspect of marriage in its first finality, that is a procreation, equality is not a category that really needs to be used because its a complementarity that requires such a difference of roles that if youre just insisting on dividing it up, youll never get it. The Sacrament of Marriage is a lasting commitment of a man and a woman to a lifelong partnership, established for the good of each other and the procreation of their children. 7:2, 10; Eph. The Church also possesses some authority, no doubt, over all marriages contracted in infidelity, as soon as one party receives baptism, but this does not prove the sacramentality, after the conversion of one party, of a marriage contracted by infidels. FHB: In Masses which are not parish Masses, the wedding Mass may be used without change. CK: The opinions of theologians on this point vary considerably. And they may say, Gosh, my married life doesnt feel like that. A consensual agreement can be made in writing as well as orally, and by proxy as well as in person. As his work, Commentarium in IV Librum Sententiarum is not so readily accessible, we may state precisely the edition used here: It bears as a final note the comment: Explicit scriptum in quartum sententiarum Clarissimi et Acutissimi doctoris Petri de Palude patriarch. Marriage is right there from the very beginning, and its a man and a woman. Consequently we must say that, through the baptism itself, the existing marriage passes into a sacrament. In such a case, however, this representative could not be called the minister, much less the recipient of the sacrament, but merely the agent or intermediary. xlii, 3, in P.L., XVI, 1124), he states: We also do not deny that marriage was sanctified by Christ; and to Vigilius he writes (Ep. By Divine ordinance it is essential to Christian marriage that it should be a sacrament; it is not in the power of the contracting parties to eliminate anything from its nature, and a person who has the intention of doing this invalidates the whole ceremony. There would be no reason, therefore, why the Apostle should refer with such emphasis to Christian marriage as so great a sacrament, if the greatness of Christian marriage did not lie in the fact, that it is not a mere sign, but an efficacious sign of the life of grace. Right. FHB: Thus, there is a radical difference between the external form under which baptism, confirmation, and orders, on the one hand are administered, and, on the other hand, those that characterize penance and marriage.
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