Thursday, October 4, 2012

What God has joined together...


What makes a marriage work?

This Sunday’s readings focus on the significance of the union that comes of God’s bringing two people together in love.  In the first reading from Genesis, we hear the second version of the Creation story, in which God creates woman from man’s rib:  she is bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh… and the two of them become one flesh.  This image of union will become central to our understanding of the relationship between Christ (the bridegroom) and the Church (his bride). 

In our reading from Mark, Jesus is challenged by the Pharisees to either support or deny Moses’ acceptance of divorce as a means to ending marital union; his response speaks to the sacramental nature of union:  what God has joined together, no human being must separate.

Every sacrament feeds and builds up the Body of Christ, that is, the Church.  In the Catholic view of marriage, two individuals minister the sacrament to one another throughout their lives, thereby building a bond not only with each other, but with Christ as well as with family and friends.  Grace flows through the sacrament to all people, both on the day of the wedding and thereafter.

Marriage is a vocation, and we are called to understand it in this light.  The rings exchanged are a symbol of love offered eternally between the couple, beyond time and space.  Yet, as with all sacraments, it is the living of the union that gives it its concrete expression over time.  The exchange of vows and rings is simply an affirmation of something that is already true; it denotes a choice to make that bond permanent through public expression within the context of a caring community that supports the couple’s love.  And the sacrament endures as it is lived over time, a blessing from the Lord all the days of our lives (Psalm 128).

This reflection is based on notes from Fr. Pat's Thursday night class.

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