Pope Francis:
"Married
life is a most beautiful thing and we must guard it always"
VATICAN CITY, April 02, 2014 (Zenit.org) - Here is a
translation of the Holy Father’s catechesis on the sacraments today during his
weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square.
* * *
Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning!
Today we conclude the series of catecheses on
the Sacraments speaking of Marriage. This Sacrament leads us to the heart of
God’s plan, which is a covenant plan with His people, with all of us, a plan of
communion. At the beginning of the Book of Genesis, the first Book of the
Bible, as the crowning of the account of creation, it states: “God created man
in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he
created them … Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to
his wife, and they become one flesh” (Genesis 1:27; 2:24).
The married couple is the image of God: the
man and the woman, not only the man, not only the woman, but both. This is the
image of God: the love, the covenant of God with us is represented in that
covenant between man and woman. And this is very beautiful! We are created to
love, as reflection of God and of His love. And in the conjugal union the man
and the woman realize this vocation in the sign of reciprocity and of communion
of a full and definitive life.
When a man and a woman celebrate the Sacrament
of Marriage, God, so to speak, is “mirrored” in them, He imprints in them His
own features and the indelible character of His love. Marriage is the icon of
God’s love for us. God, in fact, is also communion: the three Persons of the
Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit have lived always and forever in
perfect unity. And this is in fact the mystery of Marriage: God makes of the
two spouses a single existence. The Bible uses a strong expression and states
“one flesh,” so intimate is the union between man and woman in marriage. And
this is precisely the mystery of marriage: the love of God that is mirrored in
the couple that decides to live together. Therefore, man leaves his home, the
home of his parents and goes to live with his wife and unites himself so
strongly to her that the two become – the Bible states – one flesh.
In the Letter to the Ephesians, Saint Paul
highlights the fact that a very great mystery is reflected in Christian
spouses: the relationship established by Christ with the Church, a nuptial
relationship (cf. Ephesians 5:21-33). The Church is the Bride of Christ. This
is the relationship. This means that Marriage responds to a specific vocation
and must be considered as a consecration (cf. Gaudium et spes, 48; Familiaris
consortio, 56). It is a consecration: the man and the woman are consecrated in
their love. By virtue of the Sacrament, the spouses are invested in fact in a
true and proper mission, so that they can render visible, from simple ordinary
things, the love with which Christ loves his Church, continuing to give his
life for her, in fidelity and in service.
It is truly a stupendous plan that is inherent
in the Sacrament of Marriage! And it is acted out in the simplicity and also in
the fragility of the human condition. We know well how many difficulties and
trials the life of two spouses has. What is important is to keep alive the bond
with God, who is the basis of the conjugal bond. And the true bond is always
with the Lord. When the family prays, the bond is maintained. When the husband
prays for the wife and the wife prays for the husband, the bond becomes strong;
one prays for the other.
It is true that in matrimonial life there are
many difficulties, many: work, lack of money, children having problems – so
many difficulties. And so often the husband and wife become a bit nervous and
quarrel between themselves. They quarrel -- it is always so in marriage --
sometimes even plates fly. However, we must not become sad because of this; the
human condition is like this. And the secret is that love is stronger from the
moment there is quarreling, so I always advise spouses: Never end the day when
you quarreled without making peace. Always! And it is not necessary to call the
United Nations to come to one’s home to make peace. A small gesture, a caress,
a hello is sufficient! And until tomorrow -– andtomorrow one
begins again. And this is life; it must be carried forward thus, carried
forward with the courage of wanting to live it together. And this is great, it
is beautiful! Married life is a most beautiful thing and we must guard it
always, protect the children.
At other times I have said in this square
something that helps marital life a lot. They are three words that must always
be said, three words that must be in the home: please, thank you,
sorry [permesso, grazie, scusa] -- three magical words.
Please, so as not to be invasive in the life
of the spouse. Please, but what does this seem to you? Please, allow me.
Thank you: to thank one’s spouse: thank you
for what you did for me, thank you for this. The beauty of rendering thanks!
And as we all make mistakes, the other word
which is a bit difficult to say, but which must be said: sorry.
Please, thank you, sorry. With these three
words, with the prayer of the husband for his wife and vice versa, with making
peace always before the day ends, the marriage will go forward -- the three
magical words, prayer and always making peace.
May the Lord bless you and pray for me.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Archbishop Müller: Care of remarried
divorcees must not be reduced to the question of receiving the Eucharist
Print
2013-10-22 Vatican Radio
If anyone should doubt whether the marriage bond is ontological, let him
learn from the word of God: “He who made them from the beginning made them male
and female, and said: for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no
longer two but one flesh” (Mt 19:4-6).
For Christians, the marriage of baptized persons incorporated into the Body of Christ has sacramental character and therefore represents a supernatural reality. A serious pastoral problem arises from the fact that many people today judge Christian marriage exclusively by worldly and pragmatic criteria. Those who think according to the “spirit of the world” (1 Cor 2:12) cannot understand the sacramentality of marriage. The Church cannot respond to the growing incomprehension of the sanctity of marriage by pragmatically accommodating the supposedly inevitable, but only by trusting in “the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God” (1 Cor 2:12).
Sacramental marriage is a testimony to the power of grace, which changes man
and prepares the whole Church for the holy city, the new Jerusalem, the Church,
which is prepared “as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev 21:2). The Gospel
of the sanctity of marriage is to be proclaimed with prophetic candour. By
adapting to the spirit of the age, a weary prophet seeks his own salvation but
not the salvation of the world in Jesus Christ. Faithfulness to marital consent
is a prophetic sign of the salvation that God bestows upon the world. “He who
is able to receive this, let him receive it” (Mt 19:12). Through sacramental
grace, married love is purified, strengthened and ennobled. “Sealed by mutual
faithfulness and hallowed above all by Christ's sacrament, this love remains
steadfastly true in body and in mind, in bright days or dark. It will never be
profaned by adultery or divorce” (Gaudium et Spes, 49). In the strength of the
sacrament of marriage, the spouses participate in God’s definitive, irrevocable
love. They can therefore be witnesses of God’s faithful love, but they must
nourish their love constantly through living by faith and love.
Admittedly there are situations – as every pastor knows – in which marital cohabitation becomes for all intents and purposes impossible for compelling reasons, such as physical or psychological violence. In such hard cases, the Church has always permitted the spouses to separate and no longer live together. It must be remembered, though, that the marriage bond of a valid union remains intact in the sight of God, and the individual parties are not free to contract a new marriage, as long as the spouse is alive. Pastors and Christian communities must therefore take pains to promote paths of reconciliation in these cases too, or, should that not be possible, to help the people concerned to confront their difficult situation in faith.
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