UK National Marriage Week

Today sees the start of a National Marriage Week here in the UK. This is not a specifically Catholic, or indeed, a specifically religious event, as can be seen from this link. It is, however, supported by a number of Christian organisations. Catholic dioceses in England and Wales have taken the opportunity to arrange a number of events during the week, some of which are listed at the end of this news release on the Bishops Conference website.

Elsewhere, and in different contexts, I have commented on the distinction between a "catechetical moment" and a "pastoral moment" in the life and mission of the Church. National Marriage Week seems to offer a good opportunity for a "catechetical moment", where the teaching of the Church about marriage could be presented positively. I will try to offer some short posts on this during the week.

Marriage can only be between a man and a woman

This is something that the Church would argue from the point of view of marriage as a "natural institution" in human society. The Church believes that this is the case even for those who marry having no Christian faith, whose marriages reflect their communion simply as male and female human persons.

This might appear as if the Church is wanting to impose its teaching on marriage even on those who do not share it. However, the Church's view is that marriage as a permanent relationship between a man and a woman is something that is for the common good of the whole of society, so she argues that it should have a kind of "preferred" or supported place in the legislative and/or social structures of society. One of the duties of government with regard to the common good is that of acting for the common good of marriage.

From the point of view of Christian faith, marriage is seen as a Sacrament, a visible sign of inward grace and, I would argue, office in the Church. It is a sign of God's love for the world, which is nuptial or married in nature. It is a sign of the relationship between Jesus Christ (the Bridegroom) and the Church (the Bride). The husband represents Christ and the wife represents the Church, whose figure is the person of the Virgin Mary. That marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman, therefore, has a meaning not just for marriage seen at an ordinary human level. It has a meaning for our whole understanding of marriage and of the Church at a theological, doctrinal and spiritual level.

Testimonies

Some time ago now, I was asked to give a talk to the parents of children preparing to receive Holy Communion for the first time. This is part of what I said, trying to reflect on how a married couple might live out the sacramental aspect of their vocation, something that I suspect is not often addressed:

Adrienne von Speyr reflects on Jesus words from the cross - “Woman, behold your son…Son, behold your mother” - in this way. She sees John, the disciple who Jesus especially loved, as representing Jesus’ love given to the Church. She sees Mary as representing the Church who receives that love. The words of the Lord are therefore a nuptial blessing, establishing from the Cross the irrevocable relationship between Christ and the Church that is at the centre of St Paul’s teaching about marriage:

“If an ordinary bridal couple were to stand beneath the Cross and the Lord were to give them the nuptial blessing from the Cross, that particular couple would be exalted above all other couples in an almost unimaginable way. Once and for all in the whole history of the world they would be the couple who had enjoyed the grace of the Lord’s blessing. There is such a couple, but they are both virgins; they inhabit a place beyond individual sacramental marriage, where the Church (both bridal and virgin) is, at her core, the suffering Bride of Calvary. This couple is created by the Lord’s word from the Cross. In some way they thus become an original couple like Adam and Eve. In them, human relationships are refashioned by the dying Son.” [Adrienne von Speyr, The Cross: Word and Sacrament p.31, cf pp.29-35]

Igino Giordani, writing about his own family, says:

“If the family became aware of its sacrament and developed it….that is, if in addition to carrying out its functions in regard to birth, work, illness and care, entertainment and anxieties, it fulfilled also its sacramental role as the organ for transmitting divine life, in addition to physical life, and as copy of the household of Nazareth, so that the Father was Christ and the Mother the Church and the child was Christ-Church; if it were in the world as the representative of the Eternal, as the Church giving Christ to men and making of its fellowship a participation in the Trinitarian fellowship of God in heaven, realizing unity in trinity (father, mother, child = a single heart and a single soul), then its course on earth would be a repetition of Calvary, that is, it would bring forth redemption and resurrection” [Igino Giordani, quoted in Edwin Robertson The Fire of Love. A Life of Igino Giordani p.216]

PS: Don't worry - the posts will get shorter as the week progresses!