In all human cultures, throughout all of recorded history, there has been a sense of the uniqueness and prominence of the union between man and woman. History demonstrates, and the Church gives witness, to the fact that the well being of this union, commonly called marriage, contributes significantly to the well being of the Church and society itself (1603).
(Editor's Note: This is the seventh in a seven-part series designed to break open the beauties of the Catechism in hopes that more Catholics will begin exploring its riches for themselves. There is a veritable wealth of information in the Catechism, which is itself but a small reflection of the riches of the Deposit of Faith. So, if you’ve not been properly introduced, meet the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the most beautiful fruit to date of the Second Vatican Council. May the two of you enjoy a long and lasting relationship!)
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Mark Dittman is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in the National Catholic Register, Lay Witness, and Catholic Dossier. He can be reached at [email protected].
The Catechism of the Catholic Church
Part Two: The Celebration of the Christian Mystery
Section Two: The Seven Sacraments of the Church
Chapter Three: The Sacraments at the Service of Communion
Article 7: The Sacrament of Matrimony (1601-1658)
Man and woman have been drawn together by biology, by necessity, and by the need for emotional and familial ties. But this bonding of the genders was not invented by man or driven solely by his hormones. God is the author (1603) and sealer (1639) of marriage; he gives it to man and woman as a great gift. It is an antidote to the effects of the first sin. The first consequence of the primal rejection of God was a disruption in the original unity between man and woman, infecting their relations with domination and lust (1607; cf. 400). Sin has thus discolored the relations of man and woman for all time. But marriage holds out the promise of grace in opposition to the effects of sin.
“After the fall, marriage helps to overcome self-absorption, egoism, pursuit of one’s own pleasure, and to open oneself to the other, to mutual aid and to self-giving” (1609). Christian marriage is “ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring” (1601). It has been raised to the status of sacrament in the Church (1601; cf. 1617, 1638). A sacrament confers grace; the Catechism asserts that the grace of marriage comes from the cross of Christ (1615; cf. 1642). Here again we have Christ undoing the original sin of Adam, reinstating the unity between man and woman that was intended from the beginning.
The Catechism is clear about the nature of this unity. Marriage “aims at a deeply personal unity, a unity that, beyond union in one flesh, leads to forming one heart and soul” (1643). The union of a valid marriage is indissoluble, faithful, and open to fertility (1643). In two paragraphs in this section the subject of being open to fertility is introduced, but barely touched upon (1652-53). This subject will be more thoroughly covered in the later section on the Sixth Commandment (2366-2379).
The Catechism makes clear that the love between and man and a woman is an image of the love of God (1604), and that the “covenant between the spouses is integrated into God’s covenant with man” (1639). The Catechism also stresses the equality of spouses (1605), but surprisingly, asserts that the woman represents God in the union. “The woman, ‘flesh of his flesh,’ his equal, his nearest in all things, is given to him by God as a ‘helpmate’; she thus represents God from whom comes our help” (1605). This is one of those Catechism nuggets that perhaps would surprise many.
Another nugget can be found in the paragraph on the importance of marriage preparation. In discussing the roles of parents, family, and pastors in adequately preparing men and women for this sacrament, the Catechism quotes from Gaudium et Spes. The Vatican II document introduces the concept of “honorable courtship” in preparation for marriage (GS 49). This is an idea that is badly needed in our age of ubiquitous scandals against chastity.
The best environment for fostering honorable courtship and other healthy choices is a healthy family. This article of the Catechism concludes by speaking of the family as the Ecclesia domestica, the domestic church (1656). In this microcosm of the Church, the parents are the first teachers of the faith and of proper human interaction. They are also the best nurturers of their children’s vocations (cf. 1656, 1657). Due to my lived experience, this sentence of the Catechism regarding the family rang particularly true: “Here one learns endurance and the joy of work, fraternal love, [and] generous – even repeated – forgiveness” (1657). The sacrament of Matrimony is lived most fully in the domestic church of the family.
