The Marital Sacrament (P.

Jeffrey)

01/31/2015

Marriage: complex domain wherein civil and canon law, and moral and
sacramental theology intersect
WHY? Because it is both a CIVIL and RELIGIOUS reality
o As civil reality = contract
o As religious reality = convenant
What is the basis of sacrament? Contract or convenant?
o A: depends on understanding of sacrament
Sacrament of bond = contract
Sacrament of love (unites the couple) = convenant
o BUT! This is a false dichotomy because MARRIAGE IS BOTH
REALITIES AT THE SAME TIME
Results
sacramentality of marriage was dominated by
legal reality
essence of sacramentality of marriage has been
difficult to discern. WHY?
Legalism obscures sacramentality
Unacceptable approach because of image of
marriage (love that Christ has for his
church)

Augustinian vision of human sexuality vitiated by concupiscence

Led to idea of marriage as remedy for concupiscence
o Theologically = original sin

o Biologically = disorder (sexual attraction and urge to breed)

Concupiscence was given rise by sin of Adam and Eve
Result of idea: sexual act seen as outside the sacramental sphere
o Martelet viewed sexual acts as obstacle of love charity
because of its physical dimension
Argument: Christ does not have physical love for the
church
For him, true love is a dispossession of the self
(contradicted by physical love)
Problematic because couples cannot exclude physical
love in the relationship

Choice of marital consent as essence of marriage

Medieval times: religious ceremony was not compulsory
o Marriage did not need blessing to become a sacrament
o consent > blessing as the sign
o WHY?
Early Christians believed life was already blessed and
grace-filled
If blessing was necessary, marriage was transitory and
not continuing source of grace / union with God / grace
to fulfill chosen state
BUT if blessing was unnecessary, marriage would be a
SECULAR AFFAIR! (noted by Luther)
Means that priests were unnecessary for marriage to be
sacramental
o Thomas Aquinas agrees: spouses acts are enough
Long term effect: marriage was a sacrament in search of a theology
o Debate whether
marriage was purely secular

legally, marriage has no religion

blessing was purely religious (led to further
difficulties)
culturally and theologically, it is false to say that
marriage has nor religion. WHY?
Connected to certain ceremonies
Marriage was not invented but an express
design of God

Weak understanding of religious significance of marriage

Ex: difference of Christian from non-Christian marriage is that the
latter is a sacrament
o External declaration and did not affect nature of union
o Special graces as merely appendage
o SACRAMENT=external embellishment
o Fits those who see marriage as beautiful ceremony wherein
they have a right because they are baptized (even though
they style themselves as atheists)
Like in France where civil church marriage
New Question: What happened if the sacrament did affect marriage?
Not easily answered because of preconceptions (i.e. union of
contract and sacrament)
o Difficulty: all baptized who exchange wedding vows create
both contract and sacrament
Means 3-part question for theologians
What makes a natural marital contract become a
sacramental sign; and how is this a sign of
relationship of God to church?
How can marriage be a sacrament if they are
baptized but have no faith?
How can lapsed Christians participate in the
sacrament especially that they are ministers of
the sacrament? Do they have anything to
contribute besides consent?

Q1: What makes a natural marital contract become a sacramental

sign; and how is this a sign of relationship of God to church?
Billot
o Christ has a physical union with human nature, and a spiritual
union with the church
o Marriage has a physical union in the body, and a spiritual
union with the church
Scheeben
o Marriage as visible relationship of Christ to church
Means that marriage is not just a sign
Marriage is rooted in this mystery, connects to it, and
partakes to its character
WHY? Baptism makes them part of the mystical body of
Christ
o Marriage must represent the union of Christ and His Church
o Showed that participation in the love of Christ for His Church
could only take place is marriage was seen as covenant
To share in the love of Christ, be baptized first to be
part of the mystical body
Resolution: Christian marriage is rooted in the covenant of baptism,
which blossoms through the total self-giving of spouses into
covenant of marriage
Q2: How can marriage be a sacrament if they are baptized but have no
faith?

Canon 1055 A valid marriage contract cannot exist between

baptized persons if it is not a sacrament (sacrament first before it
can be considered a valid contract)
To answer, consider both role of faith and baptism as basis
Role of faith: Is faith necessary for efficacious sign?
o Intention is not enough; real intention feeds on living faith
Means that contract sacrament

Q3: How can lapsed Christians participate in the sacrament especially

that they are ministers of the sacrament? Do they have anything to
contribute besides consent?
If none = no difference with non-Christians
Baptism means that Christian participates in Christ so the giving of
consent is sacramental
o Similary, marriage is the second insertion into the body of
Christ
Martelet: not man and woman who makes it a sacrament but
CHRIST
o All a person can do: dispose themselves for such union
Schillebeeckx: in baptism, baptized is a manifestation of Christ
o To marry is to partake in the unity and fruitful love which
exists between Christ and His church
o Q: How does sacrament of marriage develop from baptism?
Does the concept of marriage as a natural sacrament
form a basis for marriage to be a Christian sacrament?
If yes, natural conjugal love in consent is raised to
a sacrament
Marriage as more than a visible sign of relationship of
Christ to church
Sacrament that gives grace must transform the receiver
3 points above reflect Vatican II
Marriage is a Natural Sacrament
Q: What is the connection between non-sacramental and
sacramental marriage?
o Traditional answer: Christ raised marriage to a level of a
sacrament by blessing an existing institution
St Albert: Marriage is a natural sacrament
o Instituted in the Garden of Eden

An officium or duty = instituted in the bringing together

of man and woman
As sacrament = indestructibility of the words This one
at last is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh
o Means that marriage begins from natural complementarity of
man and woman, which takes on a new reality in a
permanent relationship
o If this is the case, then man and woman come together not
for something but for the communion itself which already has
a meaning and value
Marriage is an I-Thou relationship, a face-to-face
relationship, a becoming-one of two persons. It is not a
side-by-side relationship ordered to reaching some goal
outside of itself
essence of marriage: TO LIVE IN LOVE!
Expresses total self-giving of spouses not merely
in a physical sense but also in a personal sense
Encompasses physical expression of marital love
Result: Church now accepts that physical sexual acts should arise
from love and are expressions of that love
o No longer sees all sexual acts as driven by lust
o Sexuality in marriage has become a good in itself
BUT! Not all sexual acts within marriage is right
Correct basis is still self-gift and loving reception
Total self-giving = imitates the total self-gift that
Christ made of himself for the Church

Marriage is a visible sign of the relationship of Christ to His Church

St Albert traditionally explains: Christ was able to draw together the
divine and the earthly of marriage so it became a sacrament
Joing together = participation in Christ
o Flesh of Christ brought about the gift of new life
o Marriage is being 2 in 1 flesh
Means that Christian marriage does not merely
represent the mystery but enfleshes it

The baptized who are already incorporated into Christ, integrate

their marriage into the Church; when they marry, they are
externally visible to all as couple and portray a new Christian reality
o Necessity of baptism
Putting on of Christ; becoming a child of God and a
member of the church
Means that sacramental relationships come
through the church (gives light to what 2 in 1
flesh means)
Every sacrament is sharing in Christ the
sacrament and must reveal Paschal mystery
marriage reveals paschal mystery: sacrifices
and experience of ups and downs (dying to
self and rising to togetherness)
o means that nothing in marriage is
purely secular
marriage enfleshes divine love! (as proven by 3 factors)
o the will of God working in the reality of marriage itself gives
rise to genuine personal relationships in conjugal love
conjugal love in marriage = basis is conjugal love of
Christ and Church; genuine love based on the sacrifice
of the cross
sacramental participation not simple duties and
responsibilities but love expressed through human
feelings and actions
o marriage has a real capacity to represent or typify Gods love
in Christ for one humanity
relationships are embodiment of the mystery of divine
relationships
o shows that love is not an idea or something external to God.
It is a LIVED REALITY!
HOW?
o Spouses realize the marital church through the gift of
themselves they give to each other
o Sacraments are only possible because Christ became man
and joined humanity with God
o Domestic church emphasizes relationships thus making it a
unique revelation of the sacramental action
Christian marriage is a sacrament because it brings to life the
love of Christ