Wednesday, August 15, 2007

6. The Sacrament of Matrimony/Marriage

St. Paul said: "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church." (Ephesians 5:25).

The Bible begins with the creation of man and woman in the image and likeness of God and concludes with a vision of "the wedding-feast of the Lamb." (Genesis 1:26-27).It says that man and woman were created for one another, "It is not good that the man should be alone." (Genesis 2:18) . The woman, "flesh of his flesh," his equal, his nearest in all things, is given to him by God as a "helpmate" she thus represents God from whom comes our help (Genesis 2:18-25) "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and he marries his wife, and they become one flesh." The Lord himself shows that this signifies an unbreakable union of their two lives by recalling what the plan of the Creator had been in the beginning: "So they are no longer two, but one flesh.” (Matthew 19:6)
The first miracle of Jesus was during a wedding feast at Cana, (John 2:1-10) The Church gives great importance to Jesus' presence at the wedding at Cana. It is the confirmation of the goodness of marriage and the proclamation that thereon marriage will be an effective sign of Christ's presence.

Husband and Wife are called to grow continually in their communion through day-to-day fidelity to their marriage promise of total mutual self-giving." This human communion is confirmed, purified, and completed by communion in Jesus Christ, given through the sacrament of Matrimony. It is deepened by lives of the common faith and by the body of Christ received together.

This is just a very short essay, the responsibility to discover more is within us.

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