JP II beautifully explains the institution of marriage and what it symbolizes – something our modern society is trying its best to dismantle on a daily basis:
They key for understanding marriage remains the reality of the sign with which marriage is constituted on the basis of man’s covenant with God in Christ and the Church: is is constituted in the supernatural order of the sacred bond requiring grace. In this order, marriage is a visible and efficacious sign. Having originated in the mystery of creation, it draws its new origin from the mystery of redemption in order to serve the “union of the sons of God in truth and love” (Gaudium et Spes, 24:3). The liturgy of the sacrament of Marriage gives a form to that sign: directly, during the sacramental rite on the basis of the ensemble of its eloquent expressions; indirectly, throughout the whole of life. As spouses, the man and the woman bear this sign throughout the whole of their lives, and they remain this sign until death.
— John Paul II, General Audience of Jan. 5, 1983 TOB 103:7
Related: TOB Tuesday: The Call to Marriage
2 Comments on “TOB Tuesday: Understanding Marriage”
Why do we need government to sanction our marriages? Slaves look to their masters to ratify their marriages; free people can ratify them their own selves, like any other contract.
“I think I should be able to marry a tree!” –John Waters.
I have many Protestant friends who don’t understand why we call Marriage a sacrament. They argue that marriage has no efficacious sign, like Bread, Wine, or Water. What they miss is that marriage of man and woman is itself the sign of the deeper picture of Christ’s undying (and somewhat paradoxically, dying) love for his Church.