Marriage in Christian tradition

In the Patristic Period. The early Christian took great care to see that the Christians entered into marriage by choosing partners who were members of the faith community because of the deep meaning that they gave to to Christian understanding of marriage in Christ which we have explained above.Apart from that there were no Christian marriage rituals.They simply got married according to the civil customs and ceremonies of the day.There was little involvement of the clergy and their presence was not required for validity.The only active role of the clergy was the blessing of the spouses, a custom that become widespread without becoming obligatory and without a prescribed formula. In some cases there was a Eucharistic celebration at which the newly wed participated and received the blessing. We have evidence of a nuptial Mass in the Roman Sacraments from 6th century onwards.


In the Middle Ages. From 11th century onwards, due to instability and weakening of civil authority, the Church took over the civil regulations of marriage. Marriage is now conducted in facie ecclesiae
(in the presence of the Church)and the social elements peculiar to earlier secular form were now incorporated
into the marriage liturgy, which had become a liturgical rite conducted by the priest. It is at this time that the Church decides that consent (the Roman juridical element)and the consummation ( the Franco-Germanic personal element) enter  as the constitutive elements of marriage.It is Pope Alexander III who declared consent as the essence of the bond of marriage and that the bond is indissoluble only after consummation.
Hence the concept of marriage ratum et consummatum.


The Council of Trent.The council of Trent in the polemic against the Reformers stressed the sacramental nature of marriage and the power of the Church to regulate marriage. It also sought to combat the evil of clandestene  marriage.It declared that in future the only valid form of marriage for Catholics would be consent declared before a priest and two witnesses. The rite itself become juridical in nature with the focus on consent and ratification of consent by the priest. This form of the rite continued until very recent times.

The teaching of Vatican II.

This represents a change of perspective.Some of the major points are:

There is a shift from the juridical to the more personalistic concept of marriage 'Contract' gives way
to the more biblical 'covenant'. " the intimate partnership (foedus = covenant) of life and the love
which constitutes the married state is rooted in their irrevocable personal consent".

Conjugal love is the concrete essence of Christian marriage,  
 reflecting as it does the covenant love of Christ for his church. " He abides with them in order that by their mutual self-giving spouses will love each other with enduring fidelity, as he loved the Church and delivered
himself for it ".


The terminology of primary and secondary ends is abandoned and the
values of marriage are listed without any hierarchical preference.

The sacramentality of marriage is not something added to the marriage union established through human love. : " Authentic married 
love is taken up into divine love and is ruled and enriched by the redemptive power of Christ and
the salvific action of the Church ".

There is an emphasis on the necessity of faith commitment for the
sacramental of marriage.Marriage is not just between baptized Christians, but between 
Christifideles , faithful Christians.All these elements are reflected in the Introduction to the New Rite of 
Marriage. 

Elements For A Correct Undrestanding Of Christian Marriage. Today

Marriage as part of God's plan.

The religious basis of marriage.. Christian speak of marriage being instituted by God as part of an overall plan
 or design for creation. They are implying that there are some givens which cannot be changed according to human whims of real intention. A religious sense of reality in general insists that people need to be guided in their decisions by the realization of something greater that is present at the heart of the world.They must draw upon the fundamental rhythm of God's creation to keep their sensitivities alive. The human agenda is not the dominant one.


The social basis of marriage.The sense of being part of a greater living whole,the society, is really the background for the Christian insistence that marriage in the Church is not simply an agreement laid down by the mutual consent of the parties involved. The couple chooses to marry in the midst of the community because it is an event that affects the rest of the community as well as their relationship with that community.


The ecclesial basis of marriage. St Paul speaks of Christian marriage as a union between man and woman in Christ. Those who live in Christ through the sacrament of Baptism constitute the Church. Christian social life has its foundation in Baptism. Christian marriage is a special expression of this new life received at Baptism, a sacrament of the Baptismal reality. The self-gift of Christ in his death and resurrection which is sacramentalized in Baptism becomes visible, public and permanent in a personal way in the lives of those who enter into marriage bond. Therefore Christian marry not only in Christ, but in the Church.


Marriage as an authentic expression of love. The underlying principal that becomes permanently operative in every manifestation of Christian life is love. Christians will be known as such by, their love for one another. Christian life consist in translating Divine love into human love. It is necessary to distinguish love from liking.The former is other centered,while the latter is self centered.Since human beings are made according to the image of God, they are complete in their being only when they are related to one another in love by which they reproduce the core of divine life,a life of communion in the diversity of the Three Divine Persons.Every Christian is called to live in communion. Each one responds to his call according to the contribution which they have to make for building up of the kingdom of God.Understood in this  sense marriage is a vocation.The natural attraction which the couples feel towards one another has to be transformed into a response of love. For this it is necessary to free the natural attraction of its  selfish content. Here we have the difference between love and lust.Love is life-giving,while lust is destructive of life. We can distinguish three qualities of love:

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Personal Love.

The book of Genesis clearly expresses the fact that human beings find their true identity
only in relationship with other human beings. "The man gave names to all cattle,and to
the birds of the air,and to every animal of the field ; but for man there was not found
a helper as his partner" (Gen. 2, 20). In relationship people are recognized and accepted
as persons. This is what happens in personal love. This is an essential requirement for
Christian marriage.The following can be considered as the characteristics of this
personal love:


Free to personal and independent existence. An essential aspect of the dialectics of
love is that it joins two persons together in the most intimate way and by doing so at
the same time sets them to be themselves. Only in this way can there be full comple-
mentary in there relationship.

Inter subjective communication mediated through sexuality. It is here that marriage
becomes fully operative. Sexuality expresses and mediates intersubjective communication.
Sexual union is a deep act of personal communication in which the whole person , body
and soul are involved.Just as in God the Three Persons are distinct and yet united in love,
in human communion, of which sexual relationship is one of the best images,there is perfect
personal distinction and freedom and yet a perfect oneness in love.It is only to the extent
that this distinction and communion are integrated into personal bonds that human sexuality
can be realized in the human sense. If these personal bonds are lacking, human sexuality can
only result in the disintegration and loss of dignity of the human person.

It manifest itself as constant growth in personal relationship. The most all-embracing form of
personal bond between man and human is marriage.More than any other forms of human
relationship,marriage embraces the whole person of both partners in all dimensions.This is
the reason why a couple that have lived their marriage union in all its integrity become closer
and closer to one another as they grow older. The permanence of marriage is also the result
of this integral personal relationship which the couples have been practicing throughout their
married life.

This personal character of love includes justice. This personal character of love  also demands
that at least a minimum of physical health, social and economic requirements are needed if a
marriage is to be successful. This means that they give each his or her due and thus restore
equality in the relationship between the persons.

It is love that demands self-denial and sacrifice. The most important service which the Church
has to render is that of making young people capable of loving on the basis of Christian faith.
It is necessary that we bring home to people the fact that the success of marriage consist in
successfully living a life of love which is not possible without self-denial and sacrifice.
The fundamental law of the Gospel animated life is very much valid here: " He who losses his
life will find it" (Mt.10,39). One of the essential elements that should be included in our catechesis
of preparation for marriage is that deep personal relationship is not possible without denying self.
Although this maybe correctly called an ascetical attitude and practice in our traditional language,
this an aesthetic attitude and practice in as much the sacrificial element is given a positive meaning.
It lays  the foundation for a life of complementarity in which the differences are not only accepted
and tolerated, but appreciated and fostered.This will truly bring out the meaning of those words
which we find often in commercial advertisements: "Made for each other"

FRUITFUL LOVE

One of the essential aspects of love is that it does not stay with itself, but tends to be fruitful. In the post fruitfulness of love was explained in a purely biological sense using the Genesis text: "God created humankind
in his image, In the image of God he created them, male and female he created them.God blessed them,and God said to them: 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth" (Gen.1, 27-28). This proved to be quite unsaticfactory explanation in contrast to the sexuality of animals, human sexuality displayed certain distinctive features which showed that its function was not restricted to the preservation of the species.In what way,then
can we express the specificity of the fruitfulness of Christian marriage?



i)Love is impelled to realization,objectification and embodiment in a shared third party.
The child is not a mere biological product; he or she the embodiment of the communion in love between the parents; he or she objectifies the self gift of the parents to one another. The two partners normally find themselves in a new way in their child and the latter can thrive only as human beings if they are secure in the mutual love of the parents.

ii)Love is fruitful also through growth in mutual love of the couple.Every childless marriage is not a fruitless
marriage unless there is a conscious exclusion and deliberate closing in on itself for egoistic reasons;then it    becomes a perversion.Even if the immediate reason for physical union of the partners is not to beget further
descendants,but to deepen and enrich their own experience of mutual love, this is of indirect benefit to the
descendants who are already in the family.

iii) Love of the partners in marriage is fruitful also from a sociological and cultural point of view.Marriage and
and family cannot be regarded by Christians as a merely private matter.

Faithfulness in love.The shared responsibility of the partners for their children is one of the convincing arguments in favour of the indissolubility of marriage. However, this third good of marriage,faithfulness,
can be more directly attributed to the essential meaning of love itself.

i)According to Gabriel Marcel,loving another person means telling him or her: You will not die. The bond that is established through love is not a mere legal bond; it affects our whole person; it sets in motion the whole of
one's being towards the other. If marriage is founded on love and not on likes and dislikes,not on legal contracts alone, but a personal act of self-gift, it cannot be terminated because that will be going against the
very nature of love.

ii) Faithfulness does not impede the exercise of human freedom. Freedom is different from arbitrariness.
The former is the capacity to relate oneself to all; it sets in motion a movement which cannot be stopped.
The latter is to be guided entirely by self,whether it be one's mood.liking or ideology; it sets in motion towards oneself, just the opposite of the movement of freedom.

iii)The love with which we love the other and commit ourselves to the other is love that is participated from God. The definitive bond of faithfulness in marriage has an essential religious dimension,namely it is a participation in the divine love,in the Trinitarian love. Just as God's love is always faithful; so also the love
of those who participate in it will also be definitive.

iv)In the Christian marriage man and woman are able to find their definitive status in this faithfulness.They
become one flesh or one in mind body ( Gen. 2, 14; Mk 19,8; Eph 5, 31); in other words they become a
'we' person.The marital bond of faithfulness creates something that transcends the single person and binds
the history of the two people definitively and at the deepest level together.

INDISSOLUBILITY OF MARRIAGE

Indissolubility of Marriage is a distinct characteristic of Christian marriage. In fact this Christian position is questioned by some religions and many governments and members of civil society today.Although we have   
indirectly mentioned this problem in the previous paragraph dealing with the faithfulness in love as a
characteristic of Christian marriage , we need to clarify certain issues connected with it.


a)The basis of the definitiveness of the marriage bond is founded on the order of creation itself: "Then the man said; this at last is bone of my bones and the flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called woman, for out of man this one was taken. therefore a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife,and they become one flesh"
(Gen. 2, 23-24). From this it is clear that the strength of is resting on the existential complementary of both.


b)Later on the Old Testament the fidelity between the husband and wife is compared to the fidelity of Yahweh
to his people which is irrevocable. Jesus makes this clear in his discussion with Jews that indissolubility of marriage was its original character.( Mk. 10, 2-12 and Mt. 19, 3-9). Marriage bond, in this sense should be
understood as a covenant rather than as a contract . See also  Lk. 16,18.


c) Indissolubility is not based merely on a law of the Church,or on a moral norm, but rooted in the sacramentality of marriage itself. The divine element enters into this bond.


d)The principal of indissolubility is solidly based on Scripture. But in the course of time,as in the case of
O.T, at times there have been some cases of leniency, But these are exceptions and not violation of the
law; but in modern times such exceptions are never entertained.


e) In this context, there is the question of Pauline privilege ( 1Cor. 7, 12ff which cannot be termed divorce
because for us Christian divorce is strictly applied to the breaking of the sacramental bond.In the case of
Pauline Privilege, the sacramental bond is not fully realized; hence there cannot be divorce in the strict sense.


f) The indissolubility of marriage is unambiguously taught by the Council of Trent. Marriage bond cannot 
be dissolved for any reason whatsoever. The only thing that the Church can do is to declare a marriage
null and void, by which she states that the marriage never took place for want of free consent or due to
the presence of certain impediments which invalidate the marriage.


g)A non-consummated marriage can be dissolved by the Roman pontiff for a just cause ( Can.1142).
The just cause can be discord without hope of reconciliation, civil marriage by one party, probable
impotence, incurable disease contacted after marriage,defect of consent. Religious profession invalid-
dating marriage is not mentioned in the present code.

SACRAMENTALITY OF MARRIAGE

Marriage is one of the seven sacraments or symbolic actions of the Church by which Christ continues to accomplish the mystery of redemption. In Christian sacramental system Eucharist has its centrality. All the other sacraments are oriented to the Eucharist.
 Matrimony has a special role in this Eucharist centred sacramental system in as much it prepares the community that celebrates the Eucharist. Sacramentality is not something super-added to the human reality of marriage, but is rather its intrinsic elavation and sanctification through the baptism which the couple has received.
"Authentic married love is caught up into divine love and is governed
and enriched by Christ's redeeming power and the saving power of the Church....For this reason,Christian spouses have a special sacrament by which they are fortified and receive a kind of consecration in the duties and dignity of their state. By virtue of this sacrament, as spouses, they fulfill their conjugal and family and family obligations;they are penetrated by the Spirit of God.This Spirit suffuses their whole lives with faith ,hope and charity" (GS n.48). We shall now analyze and see the various elements that constitute the sacramental process of Christian marriage.

a) Sacraments are efficacious signs of grace.

Sacraments are instituted by Christ.They are efficacious signs of grace.Grace is nothing but the love of God.This is present in the world always; when it is expressed through a sign it becomes experiential. In the sacrament of
of matrimony the couple experience the love of God manifested in Christ's love for the Church,both physically and spiritually.Christ is the one  who acts in the sacraments.The Church is the minister of Christ who makes the
the effects of the sacraments visible. Being a sign of salvation, sacraments also have an eschatological significance,that  is,they are  the prognostic expressions of  the kingdom to come when human love will be permanently taken up and made experiential in the risen body of he saved.

b) Marriage,instituted by Christ as sacrament.

The sacramental nature of marriage cannot be proved by using individual words of institution, It is based on the fact that the marriage bond is related to the saving work of Christ.In the letter to the Ephesians the covenant
between man and wife in marriage is seen as the image of the covenant between Christ and the Church. "Just
as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her,in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the
washing of water by the word,so as to present the church to himself in splendour , without a spot or wrinkle
or anything of the kind-just so that she may be holy and without blemish.In the same way husbands should
love their wives as they do their own bodies....This is a great mystery (sacrament)" (Eph. 5, 25-32). Besides,
there are also the New Testament statements regarding 'marriage in the Lord' which we have already explained.

c) The sign of the sacrament of marriage is the human bond ot love which characterizes every marriage.s

When the baptized enter into this bond,it becomes the sign of Christ's self-gift to the Church by which God's
grace, divine life enters into the life of couple.In order to make this sign authentic, it must be purified of all
selfishness. The love and faithfulness that Christian husbands and wives have for each other are the effective
sign, the fulfilled symbol and the real epiphany of the love of God that has appeared in Jesus Christ. If marriage
represents a special form of being human in Christ that is based on baptism,it is also a special form of sharing
in the death and resurrection of Christ. If marital love is seen as existing under the sign of Christ's cross. It must
also be seen as being sustained by giving and being given

d) Marriage is the sacrament of the Church.

Just as baptism is the ecclesial expression of the faith of the believer in Christ, sacrament of marriage is an ecclesial expression of love that is given and received by the couples which symbolizes Christ's love for the Church. The Church plays an important role in the celebration as well as in living the sacrament of marriage.
That is why Vatican II calls the family a ' domestic Church'. Although it is the bride and bridegroom who give
the sacrament to each other,sacramental marriage is a covenantal act-public and legal-concerning the whole
community of believers.This is the reason why the validity of marriages requires that the marriage be celebrated
in the Church and before the ministers of the Church.

e) Marriage in an eschatological sign.

The festive mood at a wedding is a symbol of the joy and the fulfillment of human hope that will be present at the end of time (Mark 2,19ff, Mt. 22, 1-14; 25,1-13). The means used by God for the growth of the children of God is the sacrament of marriage. Besides,the growth towards the fullness of human life,which is an eschatological goal, will be normally realized through the family where this love is already active.