Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Papal Wisdom, Pius XI, Casti Conubii
Part 3c
Modern Societies Attack on the Sacramental Aspect of Marriage
Concluding his section on the attacks on marriage, Pius XI then goes on to the sacramental aspect. After expounding it prievously, he then shows how it is attacked.
The Holier something is, the more the Father of lies attempts to attack it. We Catholics, on all sides of the fence, believe there are problems with the liturgy. It is because of the Mass being the central act of giving due worhship to God, that Satan attacks it so fiercly. The act of sex within marriage, a holy thing that can result in a child born in the image of God. The holiness hence becomes attacked, through the perversions of the likes of Alfred Kinsey.
Such is the same with marriage. The holiest aspect of marriage is when they are joined together by God, hence it would only seem logical that Satan, in all that he does in attacking marriage, attacks this foundation with the bigger guns, so to speak.
Why, some would wonder, is Pius XI lamenting this fact? Some may think the reasons are obvious, but I submit that there is more going on here than meets the eye. Like his predecessor Leo XIII, he views the institution of marriage, rightly ordered, as keeping the power of the State in check. A marriage ordained by God seriously hampers the powers of the State.
This all comes down to what the State's role is in society. If it is God who binds the marriage together, through His sacrament of matrimony, than this is something the State has no control over. This can be proven that marriage existed before the State. As has been noted before by Leo XIII, that which came before the State, the State has no power over. For instance, the State cannot alter divine law, since it is not divine law's author. God is the author, and hence these things are ultimately in God's sphere. The state can only respect these spheres, and follow these spheres, but not change them.
Following the false liberty that Leo XIII outlined in Libertas, modern man slowly but surely attempted to snatch control from the things that belong to God. Recognizing that we are imperfect, something in their mind had to have control of these things, so that there was some sort of standard to adhere to. That standard became the State. We can never lose sight of the fact that the attack on marriage is just one front of the secularists.
If it is the state that bonds marriage, should it not be the State that ends marriage as well? That would entail the minute the marriage stopped serving the benefit of the state (as an unhealthy marriage does not serve it) they can easily dissolve it, and look for such a partnership that suits the interests of the state. There is nothing higher than the State.
Since the ultimate goal of Christian marriage is the sanctification of the souls of husband and wife, and in turn the family they raise, with the final aspect being heaven, obviously the two have very different outlooks. Since the goal of Christian marriage is towards serving God, it is God who binds that marriage together with His Grace. For man, the ends of marriage are the pleasure of self, or the service of society, hence society may determine when that marriage no longer serves it's good and right purpose. So to the Christian considering the vocation of marriage, we must make sure that it is being done for the right reasons.
When he speaks of mixed marriage, he speaks of that between say a Catholic and a Protestant. Many view this mode of thinking archaic, that a Catholic should only marry a Catholic within the Church. Yet there is a reason for this. If the point of marriage is to build each other towards heaven, how can there exist two different systems of belief? In the end, these differences manner. If marriage is for the begetting and raising of children, how can the child rightly learn the ways of the Lord, when the ways of the Lord are different for each parent? Is this not a danger to the Catholic's soul?
The one difficulty of disunity in marriage discussed, the other being the risk of thinking differences don't matter, and a relativism creeping in the marriage, which is just as disastarous. As the marriage should embody Christ and His Church, Christ and the Church are of one mind, the world knows Christ through the Church, His mystical bride. This becomes tough to model after for those who have fundamental differences on matters of their own salvation, which is everyone's primary goal.
If these men were not so diabolical we really could admire their persistence. They do not realize that strengthening marriage is that which ultimately helps society, nor do many care. They are those push change for the sake of changing things. A consistent liberalism (always seeking change) can never find happiness or content. They have a very flawed understanding of human nature, and the grounds they put forth for ending marriage, if taken to their logical conclusion, unleash disastarous results, and indeed, in many cases, already have unleashed disastarous results.
If we should just dissolve anything that makes life hard or unpleasent, where would society be? The modern world they so idolize in many instances was not built overnight, and had severe hardships. The technology they worship came about through many centuries of people not willing to give up due to hardship or inconvienence. I once heard a lyric from a song that "to live is to suffer. To survive is to find meaning in the suffering." I would invert that, to if we survive suffering comes about. To truly live is to find meaning and understanding in that suffering. The Christian looks at Our Lord's painful suffering at Calvary, and understands that through that suffering we are given new life. When we receive suffering in the Christian life, it makes us better, given that we strive to overcome that suffering. Imperfect as we are, man and woman together will always have problems to make marriage unpleasant. Yet if we are to grow as people, in holiness, and in love, that trouble not only tests that love, but upon successfully overcoming that trial, strengthens that love. If their mothers applied their line of thought to themselves that they do to marriage, they would not be alive. (Ironically enough, the "unpleasentness" of the woman is now used today as a justifiable reason for abortion.) Such reasoning, as we see, is truly fallacious, and of course antithetical to the Christian worldview.
One of the arguments put forth by the enemies of Christian marriage for divorce is that when these inconviences become serious, it is right to dissolve that bond, for on account of the safety of all parties involved. Yet if we admit marriage is primarily God's institution, there are remedies to these. First, if such a situation presented itself, there are forms of temporary separation, which ensure the marriage bond stays. During this time both sides are able to step away from the situation and think, and come to an amicable solution.
Let us also think of how a marriage operates when divorce is and isn't a question. When it isn't a question, those who are joined will go out of their way to make sure not to wrong the spouse, knowing that they are with them forever, and have the express purpose of helping them on their path to heaven. When divorce is a question, one need not take as much care for these situations, since if it doesn't work, there will be divorce. When divorce is out of the question, the person is more concerned with the spouse than themselves, proving true love, and unselfishness. With divorce, it always becomes about the persons needs, not the need of the marriage itself. Without divorce, the children are introduced to a stable family and enviroment, learning about the unity that God wills, that one day they could perhaps have in their life. With divorce, there is no such unity.
After outlining the teaching on Christian marriage, and the attacks modern society has launched upon it, Pius XI will then take the issue one step further, and propose concrete solutions for these areas in our times.
Part 3c
Modern Societies Attack on the Sacramental Aspect of Marriage
Concluding his section on the attacks on marriage, Pius XI then goes on to the sacramental aspect. After expounding it prievously, he then shows how it is attacked.
We have so far, Venerable Brethren, shown the excellency of the first two blessings of Christian wedlock which the modern subverters of society are attacking. And now considering that the third blessing, which is that of the sacrament, far surpasses the other two, we should not be surprised to find that this, because of its outstanding excellence, is much more sharply attacked by the same people.
The Holier something is, the more the Father of lies attempts to attack it. We Catholics, on all sides of the fence, believe there are problems with the liturgy. It is because of the Mass being the central act of giving due worhship to God, that Satan attacks it so fiercly. The act of sex within marriage, a holy thing that can result in a child born in the image of God. The holiness hence becomes attacked, through the perversions of the likes of Alfred Kinsey.
Such is the same with marriage. The holiest aspect of marriage is when they are joined together by God, hence it would only seem logical that Satan, in all that he does in attacking marriage, attacks this foundation with the bigger guns, so to speak.
They put forward in the first place that matrimony belongs entirely to the profane and purely civil sphere, that it is not to be committed to the religious society, the Church of Christ, but to civil society alone.
Why, some would wonder, is Pius XI lamenting this fact? Some may think the reasons are obvious, but I submit that there is more going on here than meets the eye. Like his predecessor Leo XIII, he views the institution of marriage, rightly ordered, as keeping the power of the State in check. A marriage ordained by God seriously hampers the powers of the State.
This all comes down to what the State's role is in society. If it is God who binds the marriage together, through His sacrament of matrimony, than this is something the State has no control over. This can be proven that marriage existed before the State. As has been noted before by Leo XIII, that which came before the State, the State has no power over. For instance, the State cannot alter divine law, since it is not divine law's author. God is the author, and hence these things are ultimately in God's sphere. The state can only respect these spheres, and follow these spheres, but not change them.
Following the false liberty that Leo XIII outlined in Libertas, modern man slowly but surely attempted to snatch control from the things that belong to God. Recognizing that we are imperfect, something in their mind had to have control of these things, so that there was some sort of standard to adhere to. That standard became the State. We can never lose sight of the fact that the attack on marriage is just one front of the secularists.
They then add that the marriage contract is to be freed from any indissoluble bond, and that separation and divorce are not only to be tolerated but sanctioned by the law; from which it follows finally that, robbed of all its holiness, matrimony should be enumerated amongst the secular and civil institutions
If it is the state that bonds marriage, should it not be the State that ends marriage as well? That would entail the minute the marriage stopped serving the benefit of the state (as an unhealthy marriage does not serve it) they can easily dissolve it, and look for such a partnership that suits the interests of the state. There is nothing higher than the State.
Since the ultimate goal of Christian marriage is the sanctification of the souls of husband and wife, and in turn the family they raise, with the final aspect being heaven, obviously the two have very different outlooks. Since the goal of Christian marriage is towards serving God, it is God who binds that marriage together with His Grace. For man, the ends of marriage are the pleasure of self, or the service of society, hence society may determine when that marriage no longer serves it's good and right purpose. So to the Christian considering the vocation of marriage, we must make sure that it is being done for the right reasons.
They, therefore, who rashly and heedlessly contract mixed marriages, from which the maternal love and providence of the Church dissuades her children for very sound reasons, fail conspicuously in this respect, sometimes with danger to their eternal salvation.
When he speaks of mixed marriage, he speaks of that between say a Catholic and a Protestant. Many view this mode of thinking archaic, that a Catholic should only marry a Catholic within the Church. Yet there is a reason for this. If the point of marriage is to build each other towards heaven, how can there exist two different systems of belief? In the end, these differences manner. If marriage is for the begetting and raising of children, how can the child rightly learn the ways of the Lord, when the ways of the Lord are different for each parent? Is this not a danger to the Catholic's soul?
Whence it comes about not unfrequently, as experience shows, that deplorable defections from religion occur among the offspring, or at least a headlong descent into that religious indifference which is closely allied to impiety. There is this also to be considered that in these mixed marriages it becomes much more difficult to imitate by a lively conformity of spirit the mystery of which We have spoken, namely that close union between Christ and His Church.
The one difficulty of disunity in marriage discussed, the other being the risk of thinking differences don't matter, and a relativism creeping in the marriage, which is just as disastarous. As the marriage should embody Christ and His Church, Christ and the Church are of one mind, the world knows Christ through the Church, His mystical bride. This becomes tough to model after for those who have fundamental differences on matters of their own salvation, which is everyone's primary goal.
The advocates of the neo-paganism of today have learned nothing from the sad state of affairs, but instead, day by day, more and more vehemently, they continue by legislation to attack the indissolubility of the marriage bond, proclaiming that the lawfulness of divorce must be recognized, and that the antiquated laws should give place to a new and more humane legislation. Many and varied are the grounds put forward for divorce, some arising from the wickedness and the guilt of the persons concerned, others arising from the circumstances of the case; the former they describe as subjective, the latter as objective; in a word, whatever might make married life hard or unpleasant.
If these men were not so diabolical we really could admire their persistence. They do not realize that strengthening marriage is that which ultimately helps society, nor do many care. They are those push change for the sake of changing things. A consistent liberalism (always seeking change) can never find happiness or content. They have a very flawed understanding of human nature, and the grounds they put forth for ending marriage, if taken to their logical conclusion, unleash disastarous results, and indeed, in many cases, already have unleashed disastarous results.
If we should just dissolve anything that makes life hard or unpleasent, where would society be? The modern world they so idolize in many instances was not built overnight, and had severe hardships. The technology they worship came about through many centuries of people not willing to give up due to hardship or inconvienence. I once heard a lyric from a song that "to live is to suffer. To survive is to find meaning in the suffering." I would invert that, to if we survive suffering comes about. To truly live is to find meaning and understanding in that suffering. The Christian looks at Our Lord's painful suffering at Calvary, and understands that through that suffering we are given new life. When we receive suffering in the Christian life, it makes us better, given that we strive to overcome that suffering. Imperfect as we are, man and woman together will always have problems to make marriage unpleasant. Yet if we are to grow as people, in holiness, and in love, that trouble not only tests that love, but upon successfully overcoming that trial, strengthens that love. If their mothers applied their line of thought to themselves that they do to marriage, they would not be alive. (Ironically enough, the "unpleasentness" of the woman is now used today as a justifiable reason for abortion.) Such reasoning, as we see, is truly fallacious, and of course antithetical to the Christian worldview.
If therefore the Church has not erred and does not err in teaching this, and consequently it is certain that the bond of marriage cannot be loosed even on account of the sin of adultery, it is evident that all the other weaker excuses that can be, and are usually brought forward, are of no value whatsoever. And the objections brought against the firmness of the marriage bond are easily answered. For, in certain circumstances, imperfect separation of the parties is allowed, the bond not being severed. This separation, which the Church herself permits, and expressly mentions in her Canon Law in those canons which deal with the separation of the parties as to marital relationship and co-habitation, removes all the alleged inconveniences and dangers
One of the arguments put forth by the enemies of Christian marriage for divorce is that when these inconviences become serious, it is right to dissolve that bond, for on account of the safety of all parties involved. Yet if we admit marriage is primarily God's institution, there are remedies to these. First, if such a situation presented itself, there are forms of temporary separation, which ensure the marriage bond stays. During this time both sides are able to step away from the situation and think, and come to an amicable solution.
Let us also think of how a marriage operates when divorce is and isn't a question. When it isn't a question, those who are joined will go out of their way to make sure not to wrong the spouse, knowing that they are with them forever, and have the express purpose of helping them on their path to heaven. When divorce is a question, one need not take as much care for these situations, since if it doesn't work, there will be divorce. When divorce is out of the question, the person is more concerned with the spouse than themselves, proving true love, and unselfishness. With divorce, it always becomes about the persons needs, not the need of the marriage itself. Without divorce, the children are introduced to a stable family and enviroment, learning about the unity that God wills, that one day they could perhaps have in their life. With divorce, there is no such unity.
After outlining the teaching on Christian marriage, and the attacks modern society has launched upon it, Pius XI will then take the issue one step further, and propose concrete solutions for these areas in our times.
