Indissolubility of Marriage

c)  Indissobility is a distinct charasteristic of Christian marriage. In fact this Christian position is questiond 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 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 is clear that the strenght of bond is resting on the existential complementarity 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 an a moral norm, but rooted in the sacramentality of marriage itself. The divine element enters into this bond.

d) The principle of indissolubility is solidly based on Scripture. But in the course op time, as in the case of Old Testament 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 privilage (1 Cor 7::12ff which cannot be termed divorce because for us Christians 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 imprdiments which invalidate the marriage.

g) A non- consummated marriage can be dissolved by the Roman pontiff for a just cause (Can:11-42).The just cause can be discord without hope of reconcilliation, civil marriage by one party , probable impotence , incurable disease contacted after marriage, defect of consent. Religious profession invalidating 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 continuesto accomplish the mystery of redemption. In Xhristian 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 celrbratesthe Eucharist.Sacramentality is not somethingsuper- added to the human reality of marriage, but is rather its intrinsic elevation elevation 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 speacial 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 obligations: they are penetrated by the Spirit of God. This Spirit suffuses their whole lives with faith , hope and charity" We shall now analizeand see the various elements that constitute the sacramental process of Christian marriage.

a) Sacraments are the efficasious 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 matrimony the couple experience the love of God manifested in Christ's love for Church, both physically and spiritually. Christ is the one who acts in the sacraments. The Church is the minister of Christ who makes the effects of the sacrament visible. Being a sign of salvation , sacraments also have an eschatological significance , that is, they are 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 upn for her in order to make her holy by cleaning her with the washing of water by the word, soas 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 of love which characterizes every marriage.

When the baptized enter into this bond, it becomes the signs of Christ's self gift to the Church by which God's grace , divine life enters into the life of the couples. 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 undre the sign of Christ's cross, it must also been seen as being sustained by giving and being given.

d) Marriage is the sacrament of the Church.

Just as baptism is the ecclesial espression of the faith of the believer in Christ, sacrament of marriage is an ecclesial expression of the love that is given and recieved 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 11 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 marriage requires that the marriage be celebrated in the Church and before the ministers of the Church.

e) Marriage is an eschatological sign.

The festive mood of 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, 1-13). The means used by God for 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 the love is already active.

Liturgy of Marriage Celebration

 Like other Sacramental rites, marriage now takes place withen the Mass.Since it is a sign of the covenant between God and humanity and since Eucharist is supremely the renewal of the covenant, the appropriateness of this arrangement is obvious. Besides it is very meaningful to integrate the mutual self-gift of the couple inti yhe self-gift of Christ to the Church. A mixed marriage with the baptized person is normally celebrated outside Mass, although it could celebrated during Mass with the permession of the local ordinary.

Marriage being a sacrament of the Church it is celebrated in facie ecclesiae, that is, in the presence of the official minister of the Church, In the Latin Church, it is ordinarily understood that the spouses, as ministers of Christ's grace mutually confer upon each other the sacrament of matrimony by expressing their consent before the Church. Therefore the couples are the ministers of the sacrament of Matrimony in the Western Chuch. In the Eastern liturgies the minister of this sacrament is the priest or the Bishop who, after receiving the mutual consent of the spouses, successively crowns the bridegroom and the bride as a sign of the marriage covenant.. 

The presence of the official minister of the Church is necessary for the validity of the marriage. We can distinguise for aspects of the reality of Christian marriage as it is presented in the Rite of marriage of the Roman Rite :

a) Marriage is the celebration of the Church. The introductory rites put in evidence the fact that the relationship between the couple is, through the sacramental celebration, entering into the wider relationship of which the Church is constituted.. The parish community rejoices on this happy occasion because through the celebration of marriage the love relationship that exist in the community is going to be expressed by two individuals in terms of their self-gift. The introductory dialogue expresses the content of their mutual dedication and their commitment to fulfill the conditions of marriage: freedom indissolubility, fecundity and to take up their responsibility as spouses and parents.

b) Marriage is a covenantal act. The consent which they exchange after the liturgy od the Word is not a mere legal contract, but a covenantal act by which both of them enter into each other's gamut of relationships. It is an expression of their total and unconditional belonging to one another. The terms of this covenant is their human love purified of sefishness and sanctified in self-gift.  Grounded in Christ's mystery this intimate community is made holy by the presence and action of the Holy Spirit. The word of God which they have listened to will be the interpreter of their lives henceforward and not their ideology of their likes or dislikes.

c) Marriage as an act of consecration. The nuptial blessing that is imparted to the newly wed after the doxology is an act of consecration. The covenant is ratified by God by the action of the Holy Spirit through the Ministry of the Church. The reality of marriage is fully inserted into the history of salvation. It recalls to mind the first blessing pronounced by God on Adam and Eve : all the other blessings that are pronounced on the couples in the course of time are a renewal of that blessing . Henceforward, the relationship between the newly wed people will be regulatedand actualized in the spirit of this ratification effected by the Holy Spirit.

d) Marriage as a fruitful union. This is the content of the final blessing given by the priest. The exchangeof consent made fruitful by the blessing has now to become a reality in their daily lives. This fruitfulnesshas the following expressions : they give life to new members in the Church, they themselves grow in selflessness and thus bear witness to redemptive union of Christ with the Church: they build up Christian families which are the domestic Church  units which constitutes are the domestic Church in a locality. Thus the newly wed go into the world to live their alliance ratified before the altar. They become witnesses of the union of Christ with his Church. 

The new rite of marriage translates into ritual the basic theological elements of the sacrament of matrimony. Through its celebration they recieve the grace to live their commitment throughout their life. Marriage becomes not so much their initiative as a response to the call which the Lord has made to them in his Church.