Deus, in adjutorium meum intende. Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina.
O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me.
Posted on facebook recently was the following:
No church you have ever been to or ever will go to has ever performed a marriage. What churches perform are weddings.
Marriage is a permit you pay for at your county or city clerk's office that says your marriage is legal. What does religion have to do with that?
Well, now! These statements are not too well made. Some of the definitions are not quite right - but there is some truth here. A church (representative thereof) performs a wedding "ceremony." A priest, minister, rabbi in a synagogue, is simply a witness and facilitator of the formal recitation of vows. The marriage is entered into by the bride and groom. They are the ones who take the vows and promise each other their fidelity. They, in fact, do the marrying.
Marriage, however, is not simply a permit acquired from a government entity and signed to acknowledge the contract. Indeed marriage is a contract, a binding contract. Simply signing the permit does not constitute a marriage either. There still must be a formal recitation of vows to seal the contract, and a consummation of the vows to seal the marriage.
Religion has nothing to do with the civil recognition. It is a separate and superior judge of the validity of a sacred union, a covenant, in fact, between husband and wife and God. Just as a long side note here. Why, you ask, do we need religion? If we were a sinless species, as God originally created us, we would not need "religion." Formal religion gives us rules to live by, God's rules, which we managed to ignore from the very beginning of Scripture. We need an authority to give us guidance, even though we continue to ignore the rules. There is someone around to tell us that we're still messing up, that we need to do better, and that we were made for a perfect life in a perfect heaven if we don't throw it away. The way we should go is laid out for us in Holy Scripture, God's inspired word. Some things need some intelligent interpreting and teaching, hence "religion."
So - God established marriage the instant He created Eve as help-meet to Adam. "and God blessed them, and God said to them: Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it." (Genesis 1:28, 1:31). God made woman "flesh of his flesh"...."therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh. (Genesis 2;24).
In the New Testament Christ instituted sacraments. Sacraments are outward signs instituted by Him to give grace to our souls. The Catholic Church recognizes "Matrimony" as such a sign. Being a sacrament raises marriage to a level of divinity, which is why it should not be entered into lightly. Conjugal and family life are the foundation stones of civilization and of the living of life to the end of preparing souls for heaven. It also is supposed to mirror the love of Christ and the Church. Matrimony, by the way, has two Latin root words, matris and munus, meaning the duty of motherhood. The first purpose of matrimony is the formation of a family for the good of man, woman and children, for the good of the State and the good of the human race. It is what God intended as the foundation of society.
Here is what St. Paul said. "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her," and he repeats Genesis "for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one." and he adds, "This is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the Church. (Eph. 5:25-26, 31-32, Gen. 2:24).
When Christ performed His first public miracle at the wedding feast at Cana, the Church holds that He raised marriage to the sacramental level. He showed His recognition of the importance of marriage and bestowed grace on the couple by His action. He first changed water to wine there, a pre-figuring of His institution of the Eucharist.
Everything that is for the good of mankind is for salvation. Formal religion is the help along the way. The Church instituted by Christ has the duty to make the sacraments available to the faithful, from Baptism to the Last rites (Extreme Unction). Marriage/matrimony is a most important sacrament. The graces that come from its purpose, for husband and wife, are innumerable if the spouses take care to honor their vows and realize the purpose of their love. If they do not, one or both, they dishonor themselves and endanger their souls. That is how important marriage is in the eternal plan.
So, besides a contract, marriage is also an institution. Two people enter into the contract, but it doesn't end there. They promise to continue to "take each other...." until death. They live together and form a family, an institution. It is the basic institution of human society, upon which all other institutions depend.
7/29/14
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