Marriage and family life begin and end in God
We go wrong to conclude that any kind of sexual desire is enough to constitute a marriage, including between people of the same sex. Photo/Courtesy
What you need to know:
- FYI. Jesus affirms that there is divine intervention by God in every matrimonial union. Because God elevated marriage to be sign of God’s love and creative action, writes Msgr John Wynand Katende.
On May 15, each year, we observe World Family Day. It aims at honouring the value of the family unit and promoting the well-being of family members through love, care, empathy, compassion, and teamwork.
A family is generally described as a group of two or more persons related by birth, marriage, or adoption who live together.
According to Genesis 2:24, God instituted marriage and family life when He joined one man (Adam) and one woman (Eve) to become one flesh.
In post-modern times, however, the divine institution of marriage is under attack; often scorned and degraded. Love and sex are saturated with wickedness in which God should not enter and is unwanted. It is as if Satan, and not God, were the creator of the sexes and the specialist in love.
We go wrong to conclude that any kind of sexual desire is enough to constitute a marriage, including between people of the same sex.
The gender view
The “Gender Revolution,” calling for the equality of women with men has also led to the abolishing of the distinction between the sexes and replacing it with the more flexible and subjective distinction of “genders”.
This is contrary not only to God’s will but also to the good of humanity. It contravenes the natural desire for the other sex and the instinct for motherhood and fatherhood.
The love element
According to Genesis 1:26-28: ‘God created man and woman in his own image. God is love (1 John 4:16).
The strongest example of God’s love, is the love of a man and a woman in marriage.
“The human body, with its sex, and its masculinity and femininity . . . is not only a source of fruitfulness and procreation. It includes, right from the beginning, the capacity of expressing love, that love in which the person becomes a gift which fulfills the meaning of his/her being and existence.”, says St. John Paul II.
“To dominate instinct by means of one’s reason and free will undoubtedly requires ascetic practices, so that the affective manifestations of conjugal life may observe the correct order, in particular with regard to the observance of periodic continence.”, emphasises St Pual VI (Of Human Life).
Humility
Marriage begins with a mark of humility: it is the recognition of mutual dependency between man and woman.
Humility is well expressed in the message: “The man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed” (Genesis 2:25).
The spousal love of man and woman is the example of total self-giving. The dominance of the man over the woman must, hence, be recognised as part of the consequence of man’s sin, not part of God’s plan.
Commitment
Marriage becomes a means and not an end. Commitment until parted by death has devolved into commitment until it is no longer fun.
In Matthew 19:3-6, Jesus emphasises marriage as communion of persons: “What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.”
He affirms that there is divine intervention by God in every matrimonial union. Because God elevated marriage to be sign of God’s love and creative action, St. John Paul II calls it “the primitive sacrament in which all sacraments find their prototype.”
The Church places a new emphasis on the mutual love between the spouses as a primary good in marriage alongside procreation.
God’s plan
Christians have the vocation to recapture God’s original plan, the way Jesus did when asked about divorce (Mark 10:10).
“By virtue of the mystery of the death and Resurrection of Christ, of which the spouses are made part in a new way by marriage, conjugal love is purified and made holy.”
(John Paul II- “On the role of Christian Family in the Modern World”).
A marriage and family life department has been instituted at all levels of Church structures.
It encourages Christians observe family day, whenever weddings and wedding anniversaries occur, throughout the year.
These are occasions to thank God for the gift of marriage and family life, to encourage people to embrace it, as well as to renew their commitment to its endurance.
Did you know?
Marriage begins with a mark of humility: it is the recognition of mutual dependency between man and woman. “The man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed” (Genesis 2:25).
