Tuesday, June 08, 2004
Papal Wisdom, Pius XI On Christian Marriage
The Blessings of Marriage, Part 2b, Conjugal Love
In our previous commentary we examined what Pius XI deemed the primary blessing of Christian Marriage, that of Children, the raising and education thereof. Today we shall look at another blessing of marriage, that of conjugal love, exploring the mystery of the teaching of Our Lord that two become one flesh.
"20. Wherefore, conjugal faith, or honor, demands in the first place the complete unity of matrimony which the Creator Himself laid down in the beginning when He wished it to be not otherwise than between one man and one woman. And although afterwards this primeval law was relaxed to some extent by God, the Supreme Legislator, there is no doubt that the law of the Gospel fully restored that original and perfect unity, and abrogated all dispensations as the words of Christ and the constant teaching and action of the Church show plainly. With reason, therefore, does the Sacred Council of Trent solemnly declare: "Christ Our Lord very clearly taught that in this bond two persons only are to be united and joined together when He said: 'Therefore they are no longer two, but one flesh'.""
Kevin Tierney: We learn here that marriage was originally intended for one man and one woman. While at times this rule was modified by God, with the coming of Christ, as he did with everything else, it was to restore things to the way they were originally intended. Part of this was the institution of marriage. Not only was it restored to it's original glory, but it was even elevated to the level of a sacrament, a means of grace for the two people.
"23. This conjugal faith, however, which is most aptly called by St. Augustine the "faith of chastity" blooms more freely, more beautifully and more nobly, when it is rooted in that more excellent soil, the love of husband and wife which pervades all the duties of married life and holds pride of place in Christian marriage. For matrimonial faith demands that husband and wife be joined in an especially holy and pure love, not as adulterers love each other, but as Christ loved the Church. This precept the Apostle laid down when he said: "Husbands, love your wives as Christ also loved the Church,"that Church which of a truth He embraced with a boundless love not for the sake of His own advantage, but seeking only the good of His Spouse. The love, then, of which We are speaking is not that based on the passing lust of the moment nor does it consist in pleasing words only, but in the deep attachment of the heart which is expressed in action, since love is proved by deeds."
Kevin Tierney: Returning to the familar analogy that Leo XIII expressed so clearly, the marriage between man and woman is based on something higher, the union between Christ and His Church. Christ, as the Good Shepherd, everything He did, He did for His Church. The Church does everything for the benefit of honoring Christ, her spouse, in humble obedience and submissiveness to Christ's directives. This is the model for marriage. The husband, while having authority over his wife, is not to abuse it. Anything he does, he is to do for his spouse. With great power and authority, come even greater power and responsibility. Likewise the Wife honors her husband in love, and is obedient to him, when she is to be obedient. The role of the servant on both sides, where both understand their roles and how they serve each other, will be the most effective ally in keeping that love strong, so it is not a passing infactuation. This is why marriage is such a serious institution, and cannot be entered into lightly. The person you marry is the person you serve, one way or another, for the rest of your life.
"This outward expression of love in the home demands not only mutual help but must go further; must have as its primary purpose that man and wife help each other day by day in forming and perfecting themselves in the interior life, so that through their partnership in life they may advance ever more and more in virtue, and above all that they may grow in true love toward God and their neighbor, on which indeed "dependeth the whole Law and the Prophets." For all men of every condition, in whatever honorable walk of life they may be, can and ought to imitate that most perfect example of holiness placed before man by God, namely Christ Our Lord, and by God's grace to arrive at the summit of perfection, as is proved by the example set us of many saints. "
Kevin Tierney: After stating what the spouses are to do for each other in the sphere of everyday life, Pius XI then directs the faithful towards that which is eternal. One can see the closeness of the thought of this Pontiff, and that of Leo XIII on social manners. Both stressed the neccessity of a right ordering of one's temporal life, in order to have the right ordering of one's eternal life. The Pontiff let's the faithful know that in the married state, the spouse, while having all the normal means of help in leading a life of holiness, also has another means, that of their spouse. The spouse, in being a servant to their spouse, is to help mature and strengthen their faith, to teach them to trust in God even more. As a side-effect of this, this will also cause the person to trust more in God about the very nature of the marriage they are in, and hence increase the strength of the marriage. This example of service was set to us by Christ, who served his Church constantly.
While I may be straying from the subject somewhat, I would like to develop a certain thought. In order to better understand marriage better, perhaps we should look closely at excactly who God is? For since God instituted marriage, examining the nature of the Creator of an institution will tell you a lot about how that institution is to be ran itself.
What sets Christianity apart from the faith of other religions is the intense personal nature of God. (By conclusion, this would include Judaism as well.) God is not a courtroom judge with no emotion. He does not sit on a mountaintop and let creation run it's course. No, God is a very personal God. He is actively involved in his creation. Since he requires service of us, it is only fitting that he himself serves. Many do not understand the service aspect of leadership, but it is the most important aspect of it. So personal He is, He wishes us to know him, and gave us the natural abilities to do so. The reason given to us is precisely for the purpose of knowing and serving God. Out of all the things God created, He was most pleased with creating humanity, for humanity is the only thing created in the Image of God itself. We see this intense nature of God in how he created humanity.
Next we look at how he interacts with His creation. In being a servant to His creation, he seeks nothing but their betterment. As He rules over his creation, he remains actively involved. When His creation disobeys, he is deeply offended. Our sense of betrayal multiplied about ten thousand times is how offended God feels over our sin. Likewise, when we do what is right, God sings in the heavens alongside us, and our strongest emotion of happiness is the only the tip of the iceberg for God's happiness. I believe as we remember these things about God's nature, we can understand more of why He is so active when two of His creation become one, and why He gave us the model of Christ and the Church as how a marriage is to be.
"26. Domestic society being confirmed, therefore, by this bond of love, there should flourish in it that "order of love," as St. Augustine calls it. This order includes both the primacy of the husband with regard to the wife and children, the ready subjection of the wife and her willing obedience, which the Apostle commends in these words: "Let women be subject to their husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife, and Christ is the head of the Church."
27. This subjection, however, does not deny or take away the liberty which fully belongs to the woman both in view of her dignity as a human person, and in view of her most noble office as wife and mother and companion; nor does it bid her obey her husband's every request if not in harmony with right reason or with the dignity due to wife; nor, in fine, does it imply that the wife should be put on a level with those persons who in law are called minors, to whom it is customary to allow free exercise of their rights on account of their lack of mature judgment, or of their ignorance of human affairs. But it forbids that exaggerated liberty which cares not for the good of the family; it forbids that in this body which is the family, the heart be separated from the head to the great detriment of the whole body and the proximate danger of ruin. For if the man is the head, the woman is the heart, and as he occupies the chief place in ruling, so she may and ought to claim for herself the chief place in love. "
Kevin Tierney: Today the big pharse is "mutual subjection." All too often, it comes to mean that there is no head authority in a marriage, but both are heads. Yet this is certainly not how marriage is intended. Indeed, can the Church claim authority of ruling over Christ? Yet do both not serve each other? Once more we see that in some aspects of service, there is leadership, the greatest act of service one can give. Likewise, this is the role of the husband. He is to be leader of the family, and leader over his wife in service, and the wife's service entails her willing obedience.
Yet if "mutual subjection" at times comes to dillute this truth, there are those on the other extreme, who in the name of "submission" dominate their spouses, and give them no liberty. On the end of wives, they look to be "submissive to men" so that they can in all honesty leave their brains at the door. As is the problem with human nature, we have a hard time having balance. Yet this balance must be achieved.
The Pontiff provides that balance. For while the man is the head of the family, the woman is it's heart. The brain cannot function without the heart, and vice versa. This analogy demonstrates the perfect unity that must take place in a marriage. It is her love and her guidance that drives a man to be a fit leader. One can see this as we men are the ones chasing the woman. In the end, we look for that one woman who will always guide us in the right path with her love and advice, just as we guide the future family in the right path in our discpline and decision making. Those who lead are only as good as those whom they lead over. Who would want to lead over someone that has no interest in seeing the institution succeed? Who would want to lead over those who do not also wish to actively participate in that institution? As good as a man's leadership is, you can almost say that without the woman, the man cannot lead. A sobering thought for us men no doubt. Yet sobering thoughts are not awlays bad, and indeed normally good, as they remind us of what our roles and responsibilites before God are.
Combined with children, the conjugal love of spouses provides numerous strengths and blessings to a marriage. The final one we shall examine is the sacramental aspect of marriage, and the way God gives grace to those married.
The Blessings of Marriage, Part 2b, Conjugal Love
In our previous commentary we examined what Pius XI deemed the primary blessing of Christian Marriage, that of Children, the raising and education thereof. Today we shall look at another blessing of marriage, that of conjugal love, exploring the mystery of the teaching of Our Lord that two become one flesh.
"20. Wherefore, conjugal faith, or honor, demands in the first place the complete unity of matrimony which the Creator Himself laid down in the beginning when He wished it to be not otherwise than between one man and one woman. And although afterwards this primeval law was relaxed to some extent by God, the Supreme Legislator, there is no doubt that the law of the Gospel fully restored that original and perfect unity, and abrogated all dispensations as the words of Christ and the constant teaching and action of the Church show plainly. With reason, therefore, does the Sacred Council of Trent solemnly declare: "Christ Our Lord very clearly taught that in this bond two persons only are to be united and joined together when He said: 'Therefore they are no longer two, but one flesh'.""
Kevin Tierney: We learn here that marriage was originally intended for one man and one woman. While at times this rule was modified by God, with the coming of Christ, as he did with everything else, it was to restore things to the way they were originally intended. Part of this was the institution of marriage. Not only was it restored to it's original glory, but it was even elevated to the level of a sacrament, a means of grace for the two people.
"23. This conjugal faith, however, which is most aptly called by St. Augustine the "faith of chastity" blooms more freely, more beautifully and more nobly, when it is rooted in that more excellent soil, the love of husband and wife which pervades all the duties of married life and holds pride of place in Christian marriage. For matrimonial faith demands that husband and wife be joined in an especially holy and pure love, not as adulterers love each other, but as Christ loved the Church. This precept the Apostle laid down when he said: "Husbands, love your wives as Christ also loved the Church,"that Church which of a truth He embraced with a boundless love not for the sake of His own advantage, but seeking only the good of His Spouse. The love, then, of which We are speaking is not that based on the passing lust of the moment nor does it consist in pleasing words only, but in the deep attachment of the heart which is expressed in action, since love is proved by deeds."
Kevin Tierney: Returning to the familar analogy that Leo XIII expressed so clearly, the marriage between man and woman is based on something higher, the union between Christ and His Church. Christ, as the Good Shepherd, everything He did, He did for His Church. The Church does everything for the benefit of honoring Christ, her spouse, in humble obedience and submissiveness to Christ's directives. This is the model for marriage. The husband, while having authority over his wife, is not to abuse it. Anything he does, he is to do for his spouse. With great power and authority, come even greater power and responsibility. Likewise the Wife honors her husband in love, and is obedient to him, when she is to be obedient. The role of the servant on both sides, where both understand their roles and how they serve each other, will be the most effective ally in keeping that love strong, so it is not a passing infactuation. This is why marriage is such a serious institution, and cannot be entered into lightly. The person you marry is the person you serve, one way or another, for the rest of your life.
"This outward expression of love in the home demands not only mutual help but must go further; must have as its primary purpose that man and wife help each other day by day in forming and perfecting themselves in the interior life, so that through their partnership in life they may advance ever more and more in virtue, and above all that they may grow in true love toward God and their neighbor, on which indeed "dependeth the whole Law and the Prophets." For all men of every condition, in whatever honorable walk of life they may be, can and ought to imitate that most perfect example of holiness placed before man by God, namely Christ Our Lord, and by God's grace to arrive at the summit of perfection, as is proved by the example set us of many saints. "
Kevin Tierney: After stating what the spouses are to do for each other in the sphere of everyday life, Pius XI then directs the faithful towards that which is eternal. One can see the closeness of the thought of this Pontiff, and that of Leo XIII on social manners. Both stressed the neccessity of a right ordering of one's temporal life, in order to have the right ordering of one's eternal life. The Pontiff let's the faithful know that in the married state, the spouse, while having all the normal means of help in leading a life of holiness, also has another means, that of their spouse. The spouse, in being a servant to their spouse, is to help mature and strengthen their faith, to teach them to trust in God even more. As a side-effect of this, this will also cause the person to trust more in God about the very nature of the marriage they are in, and hence increase the strength of the marriage. This example of service was set to us by Christ, who served his Church constantly.
While I may be straying from the subject somewhat, I would like to develop a certain thought. In order to better understand marriage better, perhaps we should look closely at excactly who God is? For since God instituted marriage, examining the nature of the Creator of an institution will tell you a lot about how that institution is to be ran itself.
What sets Christianity apart from the faith of other religions is the intense personal nature of God. (By conclusion, this would include Judaism as well.) God is not a courtroom judge with no emotion. He does not sit on a mountaintop and let creation run it's course. No, God is a very personal God. He is actively involved in his creation. Since he requires service of us, it is only fitting that he himself serves. Many do not understand the service aspect of leadership, but it is the most important aspect of it. So personal He is, He wishes us to know him, and gave us the natural abilities to do so. The reason given to us is precisely for the purpose of knowing and serving God. Out of all the things God created, He was most pleased with creating humanity, for humanity is the only thing created in the Image of God itself. We see this intense nature of God in how he created humanity.
Next we look at how he interacts with His creation. In being a servant to His creation, he seeks nothing but their betterment. As He rules over his creation, he remains actively involved. When His creation disobeys, he is deeply offended. Our sense of betrayal multiplied about ten thousand times is how offended God feels over our sin. Likewise, when we do what is right, God sings in the heavens alongside us, and our strongest emotion of happiness is the only the tip of the iceberg for God's happiness. I believe as we remember these things about God's nature, we can understand more of why He is so active when two of His creation become one, and why He gave us the model of Christ and the Church as how a marriage is to be.
"26. Domestic society being confirmed, therefore, by this bond of love, there should flourish in it that "order of love," as St. Augustine calls it. This order includes both the primacy of the husband with regard to the wife and children, the ready subjection of the wife and her willing obedience, which the Apostle commends in these words: "Let women be subject to their husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife, and Christ is the head of the Church."
27. This subjection, however, does not deny or take away the liberty which fully belongs to the woman both in view of her dignity as a human person, and in view of her most noble office as wife and mother and companion; nor does it bid her obey her husband's every request if not in harmony with right reason or with the dignity due to wife; nor, in fine, does it imply that the wife should be put on a level with those persons who in law are called minors, to whom it is customary to allow free exercise of their rights on account of their lack of mature judgment, or of their ignorance of human affairs. But it forbids that exaggerated liberty which cares not for the good of the family; it forbids that in this body which is the family, the heart be separated from the head to the great detriment of the whole body and the proximate danger of ruin. For if the man is the head, the woman is the heart, and as he occupies the chief place in ruling, so she may and ought to claim for herself the chief place in love. "
Kevin Tierney: Today the big pharse is "mutual subjection." All too often, it comes to mean that there is no head authority in a marriage, but both are heads. Yet this is certainly not how marriage is intended. Indeed, can the Church claim authority of ruling over Christ? Yet do both not serve each other? Once more we see that in some aspects of service, there is leadership, the greatest act of service one can give. Likewise, this is the role of the husband. He is to be leader of the family, and leader over his wife in service, and the wife's service entails her willing obedience.
Yet if "mutual subjection" at times comes to dillute this truth, there are those on the other extreme, who in the name of "submission" dominate their spouses, and give them no liberty. On the end of wives, they look to be "submissive to men" so that they can in all honesty leave their brains at the door. As is the problem with human nature, we have a hard time having balance. Yet this balance must be achieved.
The Pontiff provides that balance. For while the man is the head of the family, the woman is it's heart. The brain cannot function without the heart, and vice versa. This analogy demonstrates the perfect unity that must take place in a marriage. It is her love and her guidance that drives a man to be a fit leader. One can see this as we men are the ones chasing the woman. In the end, we look for that one woman who will always guide us in the right path with her love and advice, just as we guide the future family in the right path in our discpline and decision making. Those who lead are only as good as those whom they lead over. Who would want to lead over someone that has no interest in seeing the institution succeed? Who would want to lead over those who do not also wish to actively participate in that institution? As good as a man's leadership is, you can almost say that without the woman, the man cannot lead. A sobering thought for us men no doubt. Yet sobering thoughts are not awlays bad, and indeed normally good, as they remind us of what our roles and responsibilites before God are.
Combined with children, the conjugal love of spouses provides numerous strengths and blessings to a marriage. The final one we shall examine is the sacramental aspect of marriage, and the way God gives grace to those married.
