Wednesday, June 16, 2004
PAPAL WISDOM: Pius XI on Christian Marriage
The Blessings of Marriage, Part 2C, Marriage as a Sacrament
"31. But this accumulation of benefits is completed and, as it were, crowned by that blessing of Christian marriage which in the words of St. Augustine we have called the sacrament, by which is denoted both the indissolubility of the bond and the raising and hallowing of the contract by Christ Himself, whereby He made it an efficacious sign of grace. "
Kevin Tierney: After discussing the benefits of offspring and conjugal love, the Pontiff states that as good as these blessings are, they are completed, and indeed elevated by the fact that marriage is a sacrament, a means of grace. The Married state is no easy life. Likewise, God does not give us anything more than we can handle. Hence, when He is at the focus of a marriage, He provides the grace so that we may strengthen that marriage, and indeed endure.
"32. In the first place Christ Himself lays stress on the indissolubility and firmness of the marriage bond when He says: "What God hath joined together let no man put asunder," and: "Everyone that putteth away his wife and marrieth another committeth adultery, and he that marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery."
Kevin Tierney: Even many Christians wonder why the Catholic Church still says no to divorce. The reason why is this comes straight from the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ himself. As we will see in the following paragraphs, there used to be certain exceptions for divorce, but that was under the Old Covenant. Those who point to Scripture passages in the Law and the Prophets favoring divorce forget we are under a New Covenant, where we are no longer held under the law. The words of Jesus Christ also confirm marriage as primarily a divine institution, not a human one. As Pius XI, like Leo XIII before him(and whom he much admired), both were concerned with the growing powers of the State over the individuals, and both promoted the institution of a healthy marriage as a check on the State.
"34. And this inviolable stability, although not in the same perfect measure in every case, belongs to every true marriage, for the word of the Lord: "What God hath joined together let no man put asunder," must of necessity include all true marriages without exception, since it was spoken of the marriage of our first parents, the prototype of every future marriage. Therefore although before Christ the sublimeness and the severity of the primeval law was so tempered that Moses permitted to the chosen people of God on account of the hardness of their hearts that a bill of divorce might be given in certain circumstances, nevertheless, Christ, by virtue of His supreme legislative power, recalled this concession of greater liberty and restored the primeval law in its integrity by those words which must never be forgotten, "What God hath joined together let no man put asunder." "
Kevin Tierney: We see originally divorce was for the hardness of man's heart, not because things just "didn't work out the first time." Yet in the New Covenant, as the Prophet Jeremiah told us, God writes His laws on our hearts. Under the New Covenant, that hardness is taken away to a certain extent. We will always be fallible creatures who sin, but the old law was written on tablets of stone, not in our hearts. Christ's job was to restore what Adam and Eve originally forfeited in the garden of Eden. Part of that is that marriage is permnanent, for "What God hath joined together let no man put asunder."
"Wherefore, Our predecessor Pius VI of happy memory, writing to the Bishop of Agria, most wisely said: "Hence it is clear that marriage even in the state of nature, and certainly long before it was raised to the dignity of a sacrament, was divinely instituted in such a way that it should carry with it a perpetual and indissoluble bond which cannot therefore be dissolved by any civil law. Therefore although the sacramental element may be absent from a marriage as is the case among unbelievers, still in such a marriage, inasmuch as it is a true marriage there must remain and indeed there does remain that perpetual bond which by divine right is so bound up with matrimony from its first institution that it is not subject to any civil power. And so, whatever marriage is said to be contracted, either it is so contracted that it is really a true marriage, in which case it carries with it that enduring bond which by divine right is inherent in every true marriage; or it is thought to be contracted without that perpetual bond, and in that case there is no marriage, but an illicit union opposed of its very nature to the divine law, which therefore cannot be entered into or maintained.""
Kevin Tierney: The reason a State cannot declare an end to a marriage is because this is one of the things that is beyond the states domain. Even before marriage existed as a sacrament, it still was around before the creation of the State. Hence, just as (in the case of Leo XIII's teaching in Rerum Novarum) the right to private property is something the State may not control, the same is with marriage. A state can only recognize that marriage. The rule of law's primary function in civil society is to safegaurd those rights men have even before that law's creation.
We now see an area that is misunderstood by many Christians, and in today's age, even more Catholics. It is what we call an annullment. Contrary to popular belief, it is not "Catholic divorce." Rather, it is a declaration that the marriage was never valid to begin with. The perptual bond which exists within a marriage was never there. While no doubt this is abused today to where it essentially means "Catholic divorce" we must remember that an abuse of something is not an attack against the validity of the thing itself. Today we see this in the liturgy, with many abuses going on, yet that does not make the liturgy invalid in and of itself.
"35. And if this stability seems to be open to exception, however rare the exception may be, as in the case of certain natural marriages between unbelievers, or amongst Christians in the case of those marriages which though valid have not been consummated, that exception does not depend on the will of men nor on that of any merely human power, but on divine law, of which the only guardian and interpreter is the Church of Christ. However, not even this power can ever affect for any cause whatsoever a Christian marriage which is valid and has been consummated, for as it is plain that here the marriage contract has its full completion, so, by the will of God, there is also the greatest firmness and indissolubility which may not be destroyed by any human authority. "
In these special cases, it is not up to the State to declare these marriages as dissolved or not true to begin with, since once again, this is something beyond the power of the State. Since marriage was instituted by God, it rests upon His laws, and his laws are interpreted by His Church. We must note that Pius XI called these instances "rare" and an exception to the rule, not the rule itself. Yet on those marriages where this is not the case, an annullment cannot be given. Not even the Church may declare a true marriage null and void.
"36. If we wish with all reverence to inquire into the intimate reason of this divine decree, Venerable Brethren, we shall easily see it in the mystical signification of Christian marriage which is fully and perfectly verified in consummated marriage between Christians. For, as the Apostle says in his Epistle to the Ephesians, the marriage of Christians recalls that most perfect union which exists between Christ and the Church: "Sacramentum hoc magnum est, ego autem dico, in Christo et in ecclesia;" which union, as long as Christ shall live and the Church through Him, can never be dissolved by any separation. And this St. Augustine clearly declares in these words: "This is safeguarded in Christ and the Church, which, living with Christ who lives for ever may never be divorced from Him. The observance of this sacrament is such in the City of God . . . that is, in the Church of Christ, that when for the sake of begetting children, women marry or are taken to wife, it is wrong to leave a wife that is sterile in order to take another by whom children may be hand. Anyone doing this is guilty of adultery, just as if he married another, guilty not by the law of the day, according to which when one's partner is put away another may be taken, which the Lord allowed in the law of Moses because of the hardness of the hearts of the people of Israel; but by the law of the Gospel"
Kevin Tierney: The reason a marriage cannot "end" is because the model of which Christ based the marriage on cannot end. The model is that of Christ, and his Church. The Church comprises of the Body of Christ. That is why it is said that two become one flesh in marriage, in that the Church is fully united with Christ. The world comes to Christ through His Church. Christ is the faithful spouse, and His Church is His bridegroom. If they do not leave each other, a marriage cannot dissolve, since it is to emulate that perfect union. Once again, since we are under a New Covenant, we are under a different law, that which comes from the Gospel, not the law of Israel, which is not in force. While the law of the Gospel took certain precepts of the Old law and elevated them, it is not to say that this is the Old Law.
All of these things are helped along by the sacrament of matrimony, as it strengthens the believers. The grace that we receive from that sacrament stays with us, once again, as God is right alongside us, perfecting those things that have been set out so far.
The Blessings of Marriage, Part 2C, Marriage as a Sacrament
"31. But this accumulation of benefits is completed and, as it were, crowned by that blessing of Christian marriage which in the words of St. Augustine we have called the sacrament, by which is denoted both the indissolubility of the bond and the raising and hallowing of the contract by Christ Himself, whereby He made it an efficacious sign of grace. "
Kevin Tierney: After discussing the benefits of offspring and conjugal love, the Pontiff states that as good as these blessings are, they are completed, and indeed elevated by the fact that marriage is a sacrament, a means of grace. The Married state is no easy life. Likewise, God does not give us anything more than we can handle. Hence, when He is at the focus of a marriage, He provides the grace so that we may strengthen that marriage, and indeed endure.
"32. In the first place Christ Himself lays stress on the indissolubility and firmness of the marriage bond when He says: "What God hath joined together let no man put asunder," and: "Everyone that putteth away his wife and marrieth another committeth adultery, and he that marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery."
Kevin Tierney: Even many Christians wonder why the Catholic Church still says no to divorce. The reason why is this comes straight from the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ himself. As we will see in the following paragraphs, there used to be certain exceptions for divorce, but that was under the Old Covenant. Those who point to Scripture passages in the Law and the Prophets favoring divorce forget we are under a New Covenant, where we are no longer held under the law. The words of Jesus Christ also confirm marriage as primarily a divine institution, not a human one. As Pius XI, like Leo XIII before him(and whom he much admired), both were concerned with the growing powers of the State over the individuals, and both promoted the institution of a healthy marriage as a check on the State.
"34. And this inviolable stability, although not in the same perfect measure in every case, belongs to every true marriage, for the word of the Lord: "What God hath joined together let no man put asunder," must of necessity include all true marriages without exception, since it was spoken of the marriage of our first parents, the prototype of every future marriage. Therefore although before Christ the sublimeness and the severity of the primeval law was so tempered that Moses permitted to the chosen people of God on account of the hardness of their hearts that a bill of divorce might be given in certain circumstances, nevertheless, Christ, by virtue of His supreme legislative power, recalled this concession of greater liberty and restored the primeval law in its integrity by those words which must never be forgotten, "What God hath joined together let no man put asunder." "
Kevin Tierney: We see originally divorce was for the hardness of man's heart, not because things just "didn't work out the first time." Yet in the New Covenant, as the Prophet Jeremiah told us, God writes His laws on our hearts. Under the New Covenant, that hardness is taken away to a certain extent. We will always be fallible creatures who sin, but the old law was written on tablets of stone, not in our hearts. Christ's job was to restore what Adam and Eve originally forfeited in the garden of Eden. Part of that is that marriage is permnanent, for "What God hath joined together let no man put asunder."
"Wherefore, Our predecessor Pius VI of happy memory, writing to the Bishop of Agria, most wisely said: "Hence it is clear that marriage even in the state of nature, and certainly long before it was raised to the dignity of a sacrament, was divinely instituted in such a way that it should carry with it a perpetual and indissoluble bond which cannot therefore be dissolved by any civil law. Therefore although the sacramental element may be absent from a marriage as is the case among unbelievers, still in such a marriage, inasmuch as it is a true marriage there must remain and indeed there does remain that perpetual bond which by divine right is so bound up with matrimony from its first institution that it is not subject to any civil power. And so, whatever marriage is said to be contracted, either it is so contracted that it is really a true marriage, in which case it carries with it that enduring bond which by divine right is inherent in every true marriage; or it is thought to be contracted without that perpetual bond, and in that case there is no marriage, but an illicit union opposed of its very nature to the divine law, which therefore cannot be entered into or maintained.""
Kevin Tierney: The reason a State cannot declare an end to a marriage is because this is one of the things that is beyond the states domain. Even before marriage existed as a sacrament, it still was around before the creation of the State. Hence, just as (in the case of Leo XIII's teaching in Rerum Novarum) the right to private property is something the State may not control, the same is with marriage. A state can only recognize that marriage. The rule of law's primary function in civil society is to safegaurd those rights men have even before that law's creation.
We now see an area that is misunderstood by many Christians, and in today's age, even more Catholics. It is what we call an annullment. Contrary to popular belief, it is not "Catholic divorce." Rather, it is a declaration that the marriage was never valid to begin with. The perptual bond which exists within a marriage was never there. While no doubt this is abused today to where it essentially means "Catholic divorce" we must remember that an abuse of something is not an attack against the validity of the thing itself. Today we see this in the liturgy, with many abuses going on, yet that does not make the liturgy invalid in and of itself.
"35. And if this stability seems to be open to exception, however rare the exception may be, as in the case of certain natural marriages between unbelievers, or amongst Christians in the case of those marriages which though valid have not been consummated, that exception does not depend on the will of men nor on that of any merely human power, but on divine law, of which the only guardian and interpreter is the Church of Christ. However, not even this power can ever affect for any cause whatsoever a Christian marriage which is valid and has been consummated, for as it is plain that here the marriage contract has its full completion, so, by the will of God, there is also the greatest firmness and indissolubility which may not be destroyed by any human authority. "
In these special cases, it is not up to the State to declare these marriages as dissolved or not true to begin with, since once again, this is something beyond the power of the State. Since marriage was instituted by God, it rests upon His laws, and his laws are interpreted by His Church. We must note that Pius XI called these instances "rare" and an exception to the rule, not the rule itself. Yet on those marriages where this is not the case, an annullment cannot be given. Not even the Church may declare a true marriage null and void.
"36. If we wish with all reverence to inquire into the intimate reason of this divine decree, Venerable Brethren, we shall easily see it in the mystical signification of Christian marriage which is fully and perfectly verified in consummated marriage between Christians. For, as the Apostle says in his Epistle to the Ephesians, the marriage of Christians recalls that most perfect union which exists between Christ and the Church: "Sacramentum hoc magnum est, ego autem dico, in Christo et in ecclesia;" which union, as long as Christ shall live and the Church through Him, can never be dissolved by any separation. And this St. Augustine clearly declares in these words: "This is safeguarded in Christ and the Church, which, living with Christ who lives for ever may never be divorced from Him. The observance of this sacrament is such in the City of God . . . that is, in the Church of Christ, that when for the sake of begetting children, women marry or are taken to wife, it is wrong to leave a wife that is sterile in order to take another by whom children may be hand. Anyone doing this is guilty of adultery, just as if he married another, guilty not by the law of the day, according to which when one's partner is put away another may be taken, which the Lord allowed in the law of Moses because of the hardness of the hearts of the people of Israel; but by the law of the Gospel"
Kevin Tierney: The reason a marriage cannot "end" is because the model of which Christ based the marriage on cannot end. The model is that of Christ, and his Church. The Church comprises of the Body of Christ. That is why it is said that two become one flesh in marriage, in that the Church is fully united with Christ. The world comes to Christ through His Church. Christ is the faithful spouse, and His Church is His bridegroom. If they do not leave each other, a marriage cannot dissolve, since it is to emulate that perfect union. Once again, since we are under a New Covenant, we are under a different law, that which comes from the Gospel, not the law of Israel, which is not in force. While the law of the Gospel took certain precepts of the Old law and elevated them, it is not to say that this is the Old Law.
All of these things are helped along by the sacrament of matrimony, as it strengthens the believers. The grace that we receive from that sacrament stays with us, once again, as God is right alongside us, perfecting those things that have been set out so far.
