The Outstanding Excellence of the Holy Sacrament of Matrimony

Pope Pius XI, in his papal encyclical Casti connubii, identified the three goods of marriage as “offspring, conjugal faith, and the sacrament,” and wrote that “the third blessing, which is that of the sacrament, far surpasses the other two…because of its outstanding excellence.” What is this excellence? Jesus expounded that marriage “in the beginning” encompassed “the principle of the unity and indissolubility of marriage as the very content of the word God expressed in the most ancient revelation.” St. Augustine taught that “the excellence of Christian marriage lies in the holiness of the sacrament, and the essence of that sacrament is indissolubility.” St. Thomas Aquinas wrote that sacrament was the most excellent of the three goods of marriage, as it is supernatural and imparts grace. 

The nature of the sacrament of matrimony is that it “recalls that most perfect union which exists between Christ and the Church.” Although it is a sacrament of the New Testament, Jesus asserted its genesis in the creation of man, male and female: “The two shall become one flesh. What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.” (Mt 19:6 NABRE) Jesus emphasizes the inviolable stability of matrimony from the beginning, from the first spouses. Man, made in the Image and Likeness of God, bears within himself the ability to form “a community of persons united in love;” in this, man resembles the communion of love within the life of the Trinity. This “primordial sacrament” is the first “sign which efficaciously transmits in the visible world the invisible mystery hidden in God from eternity…making visible what was invisible: the spiritual and the Divine.” God enfleshed His divinizing love in man, male and female, visible and fruitful, meant to be a spousal gift for one another, foreshadowing Christ’s redemptive sacrifice as a spousal gift to the Church. 

In the early Church, theologians sought to understand the nature of marriage; often their findings were “made in the face of heresy or the immoralities of princes.” Man’s grasp of the nature of the sacrament developed as comprehension deepened. Ignatius of Antioch required that spouses be united with the consent of the bishop “according to the Lord.” Tertullian added that spouses are “joined together by the Church; strengthened by an offering; sealed by a blessing…and ratified by the Father.” St. Leo the Great described Christian marriage including within itself “the sacred symbol of Christ and the Church.” Is this yet a sacrament, an efficacious sign?

Marriage is “safeguarded in Christ and the Church, which, living with Christ Who lives forever, may never be divorced from Him.” St. Augustine commented on the marriage of Joseph and Mary, valid by consent, not consummation. He reflected on Jesus’ sanctifying presence and actions at the wedding at Cana, beginning His mission as Redeemer, bestowing His Divine blessing upon matrimony and revealing it as a sacred symbol, as St. Leo taught. Just as Eve was taken from Adam’s side, “the Church was formed from the pierced side of Christ.” The eternal love of Jesus for His Church causes what it signifies in Christian marriage, a lifelong, unbreakable bond. Augustine did not go so far as to see grace in marriage; he saw the sacred symbolism.

St. Hugh of Victor understood marriage to contain two sacraments. The greater is “spiritual married love of the spouses” as the union in love between God and the soul, recalling “our union with God in the espousal of Baptism.” The lesser sacrament was the consummation, recalling the one flesh union of Gn 2:24. Albert the Great taught that grace is actually imparted in the sacrament. Thomas Aquinas agreed that the spouses receive grace if they are rightly disposed. Aquinas discerned two realities in the sacrament of matrimony: the bond, “analogous to the indelible character” in Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders; and dispositive grace bestowed upon the spouses. Their consent cements the bond and grace is conferred upon them. The sacramental grace of matrimony flows from sanctifying grace and becomes a lived sacramental grace, giving the spouses the actual graces they need in married life.

The Council of Trent solemnly and infallibly defined Matrimony as one of the seven sacraments instituted by Jesus; as such, it confers grace. The grace flows from Christ’s Passion, perfects natural love, and strengthens the unbreakable bond of the couple; “Christ Himself sanctifies the spouses.” From St. Matthew to St. Augustine, the doctrine of the sacrament developed; St. Thomas Aquinas synthesized and expanded it; Trent infallibly defined it. Popes Pius XI, Paul VI, St. John Paul II, and Pope Emeritus Benedict have all contributed to understanding the sacramentality of matrimony.

A good foundation for a strong marriage is solid marriage preparation, “a rich evangelization process.” This begins in childhood, as the family has a decisive responsibility to “guard, reveal, and communicate love.”  As children grow into young adults, they ought to cultivate chaste friendships of both sexes. During the period of engagement, couples learn more deeply about the institution of marriage and responsible parenthood. Thus, couples can appreciate “the great wisdom, kindness, and bounty God has shown by the institution of marriage in wonderfully raising it to the dignity of a Sacrament.” Added to this instruction, the couple should commit to “keep in mind that they have been sanctified and strengthened by a special sacrament, the efficacious power of which is undying.”

Couples preparing to marry “should show a holy reverence towards it,” reflecting that spousal spirituality has its roots in the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation, where Christians die with Christ, rise with Him to new life, are sealed by the Spirit, and are entrusted with a mission to love each other as Christ loves His Bride. Wedlock is a specification of our baptismal vocation; in the sacrament of matrimony, the Spirit imprints a new form of baptismal life on the couple, and their love is a lived expression of Christ’s spousal love for His Church. “In the Bridegroom’s face, each of us finds the faces of those with whom love has entangled us…they are all in Him.”

The union of two becoming one reflects the radical and irrevocable gift which Christ freely gave in His Incarnation and Paschal Mystery, the gift of our Redemption. He literally poured out His Blood for His Bride, the Church; this mystery of grace is “decisive” to understand the magnum mysterium. (Eph 5:32) This sacrament is celebrated and lived in the pierced heart of the Crucified in His Paschal Mystery. “This is love in its most radical form. By contemplating the pierced side of Christ, we can understand…God is love.” 

The vision of the prophet Ezekiel serves as an apt metaphor for the sacrament of matrimony: the water flowing from the temple which made the salt water of the sea fresh; an abundance of animals living in and around the river; along whose banks fruit trees grow which produce good fruit continuously. (Ez 47:1-2, 8-9, 12) “To love means to let gush a spring of water into the depths of the soul.” The water is the sacrament flowing from the pierced side of the Crucified which refreshes the souls of the couples, changing them throughout their marriage to become purer and sweeter. The abundance of animals living along the banks of the sacrament is the offspring of the couple, who flourish when the spouses cooperate fully with the sacrament. The fruit trees of every kind are the various gifts of the Spirit, good for food and medicine, and perpetually plentiful. Tying Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist into the good of the sacrament of matrimony completes the sanctification of the spouses: cleansed from sin, girded with the power of the Holy Spirit, fed with finest wheat, in communion with Christ, and ready to take on the mantle of their vocation of service to the Kingdom of God. 

When two Catholics marry, the celebration of the Eucharist, as the apex of the wedding, highlights the relationship between the nuptial sacrament and the Paschal Mystery. St. Robert Bellarmine compares the sacrament of matrimony to the Eucharist, “a sensible and external symbol of internal spiritual nourishment.” A valid marriage between baptized persons is, by its essence, a sacrament instituted by Christ as a sign of grace; this sacrament bestows enduring stability upon the essential properties of marriage, unity and lifelong fidelity. 

St. John of the Cross taught that to love is to give oneself; the Holy Trinity is the model of love and gift; the spousal love of a married couple makes visible this total gift of self in love. Their “unity through love” is a “moral unity,” binding the spouses physically and spiritually. By entering into communion with one another, this self-gift fulfills the vocation entrusted to men by God: transformation into the Image of His Son. The sacrament assists the spouses in genuine mutual self-donation; “they become a reciprocal gift for each other.” In his Theology of the Body, Pope St. John Paul II sketches the sacrament across the swath of salvation history, from Genesis 2:24 where the two become one; to Christ’s communion with the Church (Eph 5:21-33); to present-day man in his sacramental marriage; to the eschatological Wedding Feast of the Lamb (Rev 19:7) where glorified man fully realizes the spousal meaning of his body.

 God’s most ancient revelation in Genesis united with His definitive revelation in Christ and the Church; this is the Great Mystery in Ephesians. “Through Christ, the mystery of Divine love is revealed… and accomplished;” this is the efficacious sign. Christ gives Himself to His Church as a spousal gift. The sacramentality of redemption corresponds to the primordial sacrament of marriage: lifelong love (MT 19:4-6) arising from the heart (Mt 5:28) which endures from the most ancient word of God through the Word of God unto eternity (Mk 12:24-27).

Marriage arises from the free consent of the parties; from the words, they pass to the “language of the body” in consummation; this establishes the unbreakable union, the indissolubility of the lived sacrament. The spouses are the ministers of the sacrament; as such, they are co-authors of the “sign of the Divine creation and redemption of the body.” Once married, the spouses are subject to God’s laws and the essential properties with which He endowed holy matrimony. As matrimony is a sacrament, a Divine institution, “the sacred partnership of true marriage is constituted both by the Will of God and will of man.” 

The marital bond, by Divine right, “is not subject to any civil power.” However, man denies the sanctity of wedlock “due to pernicious errors and depraved morals.” Modern man claims that they can define this sacrament, conforming to the caprices of the culture. Permissive laws forge a mentality that harms families with regard to divorce, abortion, and sexual freedom; young people are thus impeded in their discovery of the sacramental value of marriage. In 2015, five justices of the Supreme Court changed the law of the land and denied the Divine law by “redefining” marriage in the Obergefell decision. Pope Pius XI foresaw this: “Some men go so far as to concoct new species of unions suited…to the present temper of men and the times.” 

Pope Pius XI labeled another error perpetrated against marriage “temporary, experimental, and companionate.” People today name it “cohabitation” or “common law marriage.” Pope St. John Paul II referred to them as “irregular” situations which contradict “the truth and love which should inspire and guide” spouses, “with grave consequences, particularly for children.” Do those cohabiting fall into it as a habit, or do they rush into it amid the torrent of passion? They get carried away and short-change themselves. The nature of the sacrament is to forge a permanent, sacred bond. The boons engendered by the sacrament include “intimate fellowship of their hearts; a strong bulwark in defense of loyal chastity; a sense of security; recognition of the dignity of both man and wife; mutual aid.” When the spouses cooperate with the graces received in the sacrament of matrimony, they are sanctified and “in a manner consecrated;” they always have recourse to sacramental aid and will “never be deprived of the help and binding force of the sacrament.” To allude again to the prophet Ezekiel’s vision, the water flowing from Christ’s pierced side continually refreshes the spouses and is a perpetual source of grace, enabling them to fulfill their marital vocation.

Jesus Christ gave the Church the authority to prepare couples to receive the sacrament of marriage and to safeguard its dignity and its definition. “The Church both teaches the moral truth…and protects it from erroneous views.” The Council of Trent solemnly declared “that God is the Author of the perpetual stability of the marriage bond.” As Jesus affirmed, the bond of marriage is “removed from the whim of the parties and from every secular power.” Divorce, therefore, ought to be impossible, given that these are sought by the ‘whim of the parties’ and granted by ‘secular power.’ The Church herself, however, permits “imperfect separation” of the couple which does not sever the bond, which cannot be dissolved even for the sin of adultery. 

In the inseparable bond forged by God within the love of the spouses, “as long as the married parties are alive, so long is their union a sacrament of Christ and the Church.” Legal separation and divorce granted by civil authorities cannot transgress this timeless truth, nor can they ameliorate the agony suffered by the abandoned spouse and children. Our culture’s deterioration of the family and the corrosion of the dignity of the married state call into question the efficacy of the New Evangelization and the sufficiency of parish marriage preparation.  In the midst of a crisis of moral values, alternatives to true conjugal union are offered to new generations, resulting in the loss of the identity of Christian marriage, stripping it of its sacramental dignity and supplanting it with an impoverished imitation of love.

Pope Pius XI delineated some remedies for the errors against the sacrament of matrimony, but it will be hard medicine for many. “For the grace of the sacrament to produce its full fruit, there is need of the cooperation of the married parties striving to fulfill their duties with unwearied effort.” He braces their courage with the reminder that “God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love.” He counsels “filial and humble obedience toward the Church, combined with the devotedness to God.” Because the Divine laws regarding wedlock and moral conduct cannot be readily discerned, with certainty, and without any admixture of error, men must submit to the authority of the Church, whom Jesus “made the teacher and guardian of truth.” He exhorts us to frequent the sacraments, to pray for Divine assistance, and to “nourish and preserve a sincere devotion to God, a reverence for the majesty of God.” 

God is love, and there is no true love without connection with Him. Jesus taught that “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever remains in Me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without Me, you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:5) Couples rooted in Christ will receive the nourishment and grace they need to live the sacrament of marriage, to honor their inseparable bond, and to be that visible, efficacious sign of grace in a world which has wandered astray from the truth. Jesus elevated marriage to the mystical image of His union with the Church, a love which endures forever. Couples look to the Trinitarian communion of love and Jesus’ love for His Bride, the Church, to appreciate the treasure of the sacrament. Reflection on these images helps couples grasp the dignity and beauty of sacramental marriage. 

The sacrament of marriage is a vocation at the service of the Kingdom. This vocation will be sustained by grace and nourished by adequate preparation. Spouses are sanctified through holy matrimony with “a treasure of sacramental graces from which they draw supernatural power. This sacrament not only increases sanctifying grace…but adds particular gifts, dispositions, seeds of grace…the actual assistance of grace.” The sacrament is the “specific source and original means of sanctification” for couples; it increases the sanctifying grace of Baptism. Matrimony, a natural reality, becomes a supernatural reality through the indissoluble sacramental bond, making the third “good” of marriage the most excellent of the three.

Bibliography

Catechism of the Catholic Church, The. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997.

Elliott, Rev. Peter J. What God Has Joined...The Sacramentality of Marriage. Staten Island, NY: Alba House, 1990.

II, Pope John Paul. "Catechesis on Human Love." Theology of the Body. 1984.