Theology Thursday

"mehwahge is what bwings us togehdder today." That line from the Princess Bride always pops in my head when thinking about going to weddings. So, the section of the Catechism I took a look at today was that on the sacrament of marriage. Since this section is a bit long, I will look at the second part, sub-section II, which are paragraphs 1621-1624. That way, I can examine other sections for weddings which might come up in the future. This section is short, but it is also a very exciting section which gives us an insight to the celebration of the sacrament.

The first few paragraphs wonderfully tie marriage to many other sacraments. 1621 directly spells out that a wedding between two Catholics should be done in a Mass with Eucharist since "the New Covenant (remembered in the Eucharist) in which Christ has united himself for ever to the Church, his beloved bride for whom he gave himself up." And the celebration of the Eucharist at a wedding symbolizes the unity of the bride and groom into one in the body of Christ. Maybe this symbol of unity can also help remind us that divorcing and re-marrying not only harms those involved, but wounds the body of Christ himself and affects all of the rest of its members.

As we saw with the sections on Confirmation, Catholics are encouraged to go to Reconciliation before being married. Seems to be a common theme for all succeeding sacraments, I wonder if it continues through all of the rest. It does however, seem to be very fitting to reconcile your sins before God before receiving a sacrament. After all it is the sacrament where you can continually receive God's grace and wash away your sins and directly connect us with our roots to baptism.

Honestly, I believe that paragraph 1623 is my favorite in the marriage section even though it is just one sentence. "According to Latin tradition, the spouses as ministers of Christ's grace mutually confer upon each other the sacrament of Matrimony by expressing their consent before the Church. In the tradition of the Eastern Churches, the priests (bishops or presbyters) are witnesses to the mutual consent given by the spouses, but for the validity of the sacrament their blessing is also necessary." Wow, I learned something the priest/deacon is not the minister of the sacrament. Read it carefully; the bride and groom are both the ministers of the sacrament when they say their vows. The minister stands as witness for the Church and blesses the marriage, but the two participants actually confer the sacrament.

This last section hints at the sacrament of Confirmation although it never directly mentions it. It mentions the couple receiving the Holy Spirit in their love which seals their covenant before the Church. However, the last statement is pretty interesting. It says, "the [Holy Spirit] ever available source of their love and the strength to renew their fidelity." The Church shows that marriage is tough and has its trials and tribulations; otherwise, why would married people need to renew their fidelity. Basically, when you get married, you will get drained, you will need to refuel, and it's not easy. Human love can't compare to God's love, no matter how much we love our spouse, parents, or children. As humans, we can't handle these stresses and refuel on our own, we need to turn to the Holy Spirit and God's love to give us the strength to keep a marriage going especially when it gets tough. This simple statement could probably sum up why many people get divorced. They don't have the Holy Spirit to call on or simply forget that's what is needed. It's not enough to turn to the Spirit once or twice and think that's good enough or for only one person to turn to the Spirit. Both husband and wife must continually look towards the Holy Spirit for strength and guidance.

The reason I chose to look at marriage is that I will be flying out to Orlando tomorrow morning for a wedding. I'll be staying in a condo with friends and I'm not sure if there is an internet connection. I'm taking my laptop just in case. If there is, I will make room during the 2 days of parties to make some posts; otherwise, I'll be back on here next week.

Paix du Christ!