The Church Is Catholic

 Ecclesiology

I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world,
and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by Your name,
the name You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one.
John 17, 11

Since Apostolic times, the Church, or the unblemished bride of Christ, has understood herself to be Catholic. By definition, we mean a visible society of baptized Christians from all around the world professing the same faith under the authority of the invisible head, who is Christ, and the authority of the visible head, his vice-regent, the pope, and the world’s bishops in communion with the Roman Pontiff.

The apostles themselves knew that their Lord and Master had established his Church to be visibly one and hierarchical for the unity of faith and consistent transmission of the deposit of faith from one generation of believers to the next without error under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Jn 14:16; 16:12-13). For instance, none of the apostles dared to question or challenge Peter’s authority to speak for the entire Church and resolve a disputed doctrinal issue, such as whether baptized Gentiles ought to be circumcised like the Jews. Instead, they listened to what Peter had to say in silence and accepted his word as final for the Church to receive without objection (See Acts 15). The debate that went on at the council in Jerusalem may never have been resolved or accepted by everyone with a moral certainty of faith if it wasn’t believed that Peter had the universal primacy of authority to reach or ratify a final verdict for the whole Church to confidently accept in unity (Mt 16:20).

The New Testament (Covenant) Church was catholic in every religious sense. Several key passages in Scripture reflect how the Church perceived herself through the knowledge she received from the Holy Spirit in the sanctifying light of faith. First of all, Jesus says that a city (Jerusalem) “set on a hill cannot be hidden” (Mt 5:14). Our Lord is referring to his Church (the new Jerusalem that has come down from heaven), which is essentially a visible church and a unity of members who comprise his Mystical Body. The Church isn’t simply a pneumatic construct in which there is an invisible unity of spirit but a visible division that makes no difference beyond the fundamental tenets of the Apostles’ Creed. Indeed, Jesus warns us that “a kingdom divided against itself is laid waste and cannot stand” (Mt 12:25; Mk 3:25; Lk 11:17). This scenario best describes the miserable state Protestantism finds itself in from the time of its inception in the sixteenth century, what with the myriads of autonomous and independent denominations that differ on many fine points of doctrine on faith and morals while appealing to the same Scriptures supposedly under the guidance of one and the same Holy Spirit.

Jesus said he would build his “church” on Peter the Rock and the apostles in communion with the Lord’s vicar. He said nothing about ‘churches’ (Mt 16:18). Unity of faith wisely requires a visible body under a visible head, which represents and is accountable to the invisible head, Christ. A visible church cannot exist without a visible head who rules visibly by ‘binding and loosing’ so that the Church may be visibly united in faith and, in that sense, be truly catholic. Protestantism amounts to being nothing more than a divided religious movement consisting of countless churches with independent visible heads in some shape or form.

Jesus told the apostles there must be only “one flock and one shepherd” (Jn 10:16). This means one visible flock, one visible shepherd, and one invisible shepherd who is Christ in heaven. Jesus intended his Church to be structured this way since he prayed that his followers may be ideally one as he is one with the Father (Jn 17:11, 21, 23). There is perfect oneness only in the one true Church founded by Christ, which is the Catholic Church, despite the heresies, divisions, and schisms that have arisen throughout the ages because of rogue clerics and arrogant academicians who divorced themselves from Christ’s vision and rejected his institutions.

Indeed, Our Lord foresaw all the turmoil that would historically arise in the Church, notably from the time of Arius in the early fourth century, when he said to his apostles, “He who is not with me is against me; and he who does not gather with me scatters” (Mt 12:30). Only by listening to what Peter and the apostles say, and thereby their appointed successors in the episcopal office until Christ returns, can there be perfect unity in the one, visible, and hierarchical Church. Those who refuse to listen to and reject the ruling and teaching authority of the Universal Magisterium, in fact, refuse to listen to Christ and reject the authority given to him by his heavenly Father, transferred to Peter and the Apostles (Lk 10:16).

Until this time, Christian denominations were the creation of men and women who were presumed to be invested with the divine authority to teach and rule in the name of Christ, totally indifferent to the institutions that Our Lord established on the concrete foundation of Peter and the Apostles. Denominationalism is anti-Christ. So is its negative counterpart: Non-denominationalism (essentially a sub-denomination in Protestantism), which ironically holds Christ never founded a single corporate religious entity (or entities) in the first place. This is a modern religious phenomenon that bears the characteristics of ancient Gnosticism.

In any event, the apostles and the faithful men whom they appointed to join and succeed them in the divine offices of the episcopacy and priesthood (presbyterium) kept Christ’s vision in their minds and hearts. The New Testament church was indeed the Catholic Church in mind and spirit. Paul exhorted the body of believers in Rome to live in harmony with one another (Rom 15:5). There can be no visibly unified body and one mind in faith as long as there are dissenters in the ranks who create divisions in opposition to the apostolic teaching authority.

On the contrary, these false teachers must be avoided at all costs and shouldn’t be listened to (Rom 16: 17). For the Church to be truly catholic and remain catholic, Christians must be on guard against those who dispute Church teachings and create controversies by proposing their own misguided notions and misleading the flock with their confusing rhetoric (1 Tim 6:4). The Judaizers and Ebionites are clear examples. For the Church to be catholic, there must be a universal teaching authority of appeal that can trace its authority back to Christ. This was the case at the council in Jerusalem. Those who rejected the council’s decisions left communion with the one true Church.

Paul fervently prayed like Jesus had that there be no dissensions and disagreements among Christians, that they might be of one mind and one spirit for the sake of perfect unity (1 Cor 1:10). After all, the Church is the visible ‘body’ of Christ, not Our Lord’s invisible spirit or soul (Eph 1:22-23; 5:23-32; Col 1:18, 24). Jesus has only one bride, not many brides who believe and think somewhat differently on fine points of doctrine and morals (Eph 5:25). Peter called for a unity of spirit which is what Catholicism is all about (1 Pt 3:8). But this is impossible if Christians are of different minds and hearts and indifferent to the established central teaching authority of the Church because of how they feel or what they might think. Such people do not belong to the Church and have dismembered themselves from the body, even to the point of ex-communication or schism. God isn’t the author of confusion but peace and reconciliation (1 Cor 14:33).

The Holy Spirit isn’t the source of countless denominations that keep popping up worldwide and are divided. The prophet Daniel foresaw the creation of the Catholic Church, whose divine author is Our Lord Jesus Christ. He envisioned a single body of people from all nations serving His kingdom on earth (Dan 7:14). The Church isn’t a democracy with different political or religious parties but a kingdom and monarchical entity (Rev 7:9-10).

Clement of Rome, Pope, wrote in his 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, 44:1-2 (c. A.D. 96), that the apostles had received a divine revelation from our Lord Jesus Christ. This revelation revealed to them the impending strife that would arise concerning the office of the episcopate. In response, the apostles appointed ministers deemed qualified for the task. Additionally, they provided clear instructions for the succession of these ministers when they passed away. Clement of Rome emphasized that the apostles had perfect foreknowledge of the situation, and therefore, they made careful arrangements to ensure that the ministry would continue without any disruption.

Bishop Ignatius of Antioch (c. A.D. 110) was a follower or student of the apostle John. Perhaps the evangelist even ordained him. As an apostolic successor in the divine office, His Excellency reveals how the Church is intended to be visibly one and catholic in the biblical sense of the word. He says, “See that ye all follow the bishop, even as Christ Jesus does the Father… Let no man do anything connected with the Church without the bishop. Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, administered either by the bishop or by one to whom he has entrusted it. Wherever the bishop shall appear, there let the multitude also be; even as, wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church” (Epistle to the Smyrnaeans, 8:2). Catholicism amounts to respecting the visible episcopal authority and acknowledging the validity of the Blessed Sacrament only when it is celebrated and administered by one who can trace his priestly ordination back to the apostles themselves (with the laying on of hands) in a physical and associated line of succession (cf. Acts 6:6; 9:17-19; 13:3; 1 Tim 4:14).

Irenaeus (A.D. 180), Bishop of present-day Lyons, France, was a student of Polycarp who, according to early tradition, was also tutored in the faith by the apostle John. The critical point of Irenaeus’ theology was God’s unity and goodness against the Gnostics’ theory of God: a plurality of divine emanations (Aeons) and a distinction between the Monad and the Demiurge. Many Gnostic sects of different shades of persuasion arose in the second century. Gnostics believed they were Christian in their spirituality, which they considered more important than any particular religious affiliation. And they were Christians of truly diverse viewpoints. But what all these cults shared in common were belief systems for attaining secret knowledge or gnosis. Gnostic sects were in direct competition with the teachings of the nascent Catholic Church. These sects rejected the Apostolic teaching authority of the one true Church concerning Christ’s person in the incarnation.

In his contention with the Gnostics, notably Marcion, Irenaeus writes: “Those, therefore, who desert the preaching of the Church, call in question the knowledge of the holy presbyters…It behooves us, therefore, to avoid their doctrines, and to take careful heed lest we suffer any injury from them; but to flee to the Church, and be brought up in her bosom, and be nourished with the Lord’s Scriptures” (Against Heresies, 5:20). He refers to their leaders as “ these teachers who are destitute of truly divine wisdom… while the Catholic Church possesses one and the same faith throughout the whole world.”

Irenaeus understood what the word catholic meant to the New Testament Church as opposed to the superficial pluralism of the Gnostic sects in his day: “But it has, on the other hand, been shown, that the preaching of the Church is everywhere consistent, and continues in an even course, and receives testimony from the prophets, the apostles, and all the disciples…For in the Church, it is said, ‘God hath set apostles, prophets, teachers,’ and all the other means through which the Spirit works; of which all those are not partakers who do not join themselves to the Church, but defraud themselves of life through their perverse opinions and infamous behavior. For where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God; where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church and every kind of grace; but the Spirit is truth” (Ibid., 1.10.3). Thus, Irenaeus affirmed the true Church as one in faith, visible instead of invisible or purely pneumatic and hierarchical. The One Holy Spirit ensured the transmission of the one true and indisputable faith through Apostolic succession.

Cyprian of Carthage (A.D. 254) testifies how the early Church understood itself to be catholic by presenting his point of view: “Whence you ought to know that the bishop is in the Church, and the Church in the bishop; and if anyone is not with the bishop, that he is not in the Church, and that those flatter themselves in vain who creep in, not having peace with God’s priests, and think that they communicate secretly with some; while the Church, which is Catholic and one, is not cut nor divided, but is indeed connected and bound together by the cement of priests who cohere with one another” (To Florentius, Epistle 66/67). The Alexandrian priest Arius, however, broke with tradition and decided to interpret the Scriptures on his own personal authority, not unlike Marcion, and presumed to teach that the Son didn’t eternally co-exist with the Father nor was consubstantial with Him.

But to be Catholic, one must obediently follow the dogmas of the Church in union with all the faithful. Arius never recanted and, unfortunately, brought most of the Eastern Church bishops on his side. As a result, the Church (or rather the Roman emperor) was compelled to convoke the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325. This is the decision reached by the bishops who attended the council: “But for those who say, ‘There was when He was not, and, Before being born He was not, and that He came into existence out of nothing, or who assert that the Son of God is of a different hypostasis or substance’…these the Catholic and apostolic Church anathematizes.”

Cyril of Jerusalem (A.D. 350) describes in Pauline fashion what it means for the Church to be catholic: “Concerning this Holy Catholic Church Paul writes to Timothy, ‘That thou mayest know how thou ought to behave thyself in the House of God, which is the Church of the Living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.’” (Catechetical Lectures, 18:25). There is only one God and one divine truth, which the Church has by the presence of the Spirit of truth. The life of the Church has its source in the life of God, whose Spirit ensures that the bride of Christ remains unblemished in her faith and guarantees that the truth is made known for all to accept without questioning the apostolic teaching authority that all began with Peter and the Apostles in communion with him, that the Church be visibly one in the faith and one body of believers.

“We are not to give heed to those who say, Behold here is Christ, but show him
not in the Church, which is filled with brightness from the East even unto the West; which is
filled with true light; is the ‘pillar and ground of truth’; in which, as a whole, is the whole advent
of the Son of Man, who saith to all men throughout the universe, ‘Behold, I am with you all
the days of life even unto the consumption of the world.’”
Origen, Commentary on Matthew, Tract 30
(A.D. 244)

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every
nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the
Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a
loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Revelation 7, 9-10

Pax vobiscum

The Word of God

 The Deposit of Faith

And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God which
you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word
of God, which is at work in you believers.
1 Thessalonians 2, 13

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of
your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised
Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 1, 13

Follow the pattern of the sound words which you have heard from me,
in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus; guard the truth that has
been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.
2 Timothy 1, 13-14

Sacred Tradition is the unwritten word of God and thus is a source of divine revelation from which even sacred Scripture (the written word of God) proceeds (Lk 1:1-4). By unwritten or verbally unspoken, we mean all the divine mysteries revealed or declared by the Holy Spirit to the Church in the passage of time (Jn 16:12-13). It’s because Tradition or God’s unwritten word is infallible that Scripture, God’s written word, is infallible since both sources of divine revelation originate from the Holy Spirit under the Spirit’s guidance (Tradition) or by the Spirit’s inspiration (Scripture). And since the written word proceeds from the initial unwritten word, Scripture must be interpreted in light of Tradition. The former medium serves as an objective norm or confirmation of the latter. Thus, these two mediums of divine revelation comprise two sides of the same coin, so they mustn’t be divorced or placed in opposition to each other. This isn’t an either/or proposition.

Tradition literally means “handing on,” which refers to the passing down of God’s revealed word from the beginning under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, Tradition means all divine revelation from the dawn of human history to the end of the apostolic age from one generation of believers to the next which is safeguarded by the Church (the Rule of Faith) until Christ returns in glory (Mt 28:20). Jesus assures his apostles, “And I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever” (Jn 14:16). The Greek noun for the English word “forever” is αἰῶνα (aiōna). Jesus, then, is telling his disciples that the Holy Spirit or Paraclete will come to them to “always” abide in his Church throughout the entire Messianic age, viz., from the time of Christ’s ascension into heaven and Pentecost to his glorious return at the end of this age.

Further, Tradition may also be said to contain all that is materially presented in Scripture, either explicitly or implicitly. It’s because Scripture isn’t always explicit that it is formally insufficient as a sole rule of faith. And so, Tradition often reveals or exposes what is explicitly lacking in Scripture but is there nonetheless as a representation of the verbally unspoken word: the declaration of the Holy Spirit to the Church. The written word and the unwritten word of God mutually support each other in a complementary way, originating from the same divine Author and guarantor of the truth.

Since the beginning, the one, visible, hierarchical Church founded by Christ himself on Peter the rock and the Apostles in a physical line of succession through the sacrament of Holy Orders has understood that Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition are bound closely together and correspond with one another towards the same goal in a mutual relationship and that these two mediums of divine revelation flow from the same source, viz. the Holy Spirit. The Church, therefore, has never drawn its certainty about the revealed divine truths from only sacred Scripture. The apostles believed their preaching was guided by the Holy Spirit, who protects the Church from error (Acts 15:27-28). And it was Paul who wrote that the Church – not Scripture – is “the pillar and foundation of the truth” (1 Tim 3:15).

So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions
we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
2 Thessalonians 2, 15

Referring to how Christian tradition was handed on, Vatican ll states: “It was done by the apostles who handed on, by the spoken word of their preaching, by the example they gave, by the institutions they established, what they themselves had received – whether from the lips of Christ, from His way of life and His works, or whether they had learned it from the prompting of the Holy Spirit” (Constitution on Divine Revelation, ll, 7). God was faithful in transmitting the written word, as was evident by the Church’s infallible ruling of which Biblical books and Epistles belonged to the canon of Scripture. Thus, God must also be faithful to His Church in the transmission of His unwritten word declared by the Holy Spirit and preached (spoken) by the apostles and their anointed successors, which manifests in greater fullness what has been revealed by God and committed to writing for communities acquainted with the oral tradition.

According to John Cardinal Henry Newman, Scripture and Tradition aren’t two separate “sources” of divine revelation but rather two “modes” of transmitting the same deposit of faith. In his words: “Totum in scriptura, totum in traditione.” (“All is in Scripture, all is in Tradition.”). These two mediums point towards and embrace each other as constituting together in a single expression the word of God. If Paul had committed everything he preached to his letters, he would have written by word of mouth and by letter.

Hence, the entire body of Christ – the bishops to the laity – has an anointing that originates from the Holy Spirit (1 Jn 2:20, 27). Being members of one mystical body with Christ as the head, they cannot be deceived as our Lord promised his apostles. This feature of the Church is shown in the supernatural appreciation of the faith (sensus fidei) by all the faithful when they manifest a universal consent in matters of faith and morals. And by this appreciation of the faith, aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth, the entire people of God’s household, guided by the Magisterium and obeying it, receive not the mere word of men but truly the word of God declared by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 2:13); the faith delivered once for all (cf. Lumen Gentium, 12).

“What the body of the Church and its pastors agreed in holding as of faith is part of revelation since the Church is filled and assisted by the Holy Spirit and cannot be wrong on a matter of faith. This has always been the conviction of the Catholic Church both eastern and western” (Yves Congar, Tradition and Traditions: New York: Macmillan,1966). Isaiah’s prophecy points to the infallible and supernatural Church that Christ has founded on Peter the rock and the Apostles: “And a path and a way shall be there, and it shall be called the holy way: the unclean shall not pass over it, and this shall be unto you a straight way so that fools shall not err therein” (Isa 35:8; cf. Acts 9:2; 22:4; 24:14,22).

The word is near you, even in your mouth, and in your heart:
that is, the word of faith, which we preach.
Romans 10, 8

On Pentecost, the Church was established as a single and visible historical reality with the descent of the Holy Spirit. Only then could an unfolding revelation first received by the apostles be transmitted to future generations under the promised guidance of the Paraclete. The divine truth in all its manifestations and growing fullness has carried with it since the seal of the Holy Spirit, whose sanctifying presence guarantees the purity of faith in the Church – the “unblemished” body of Christ. Thus, the seed planted by the apostles must be abided by and sustained by increasing knowledge and understanding of the Divine mysteries through the inspiration and assistance of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8-9). The truth in all its fullness does not exist outside the Catholic Church, where there is neither Scripture nor Tradition on account of these two mediums of divine revelation in the deposit of faith having been divorced from each other.

In the words of the 5th-century monk Vincent of Lerins: “We must hold what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all.” Tradition has been described as timeless, although situated in temporal reality. It is an ongoing memory of the whole Church (the one timeless mystical body of Christ) whose principal aim isn’t to restore the past but to better understand it in the present and recollect it in a greater light of faith beyond the limits of time. This memory consists not only of written or spoken words but also of how they have been assimilated and expressed liturgically by all the faithful through the centuries and passed on.

Tradition is a continuous experience that is both relived and renewed over time, remaining unaffected by the passage of time and free from any distortion of the divine truths presented as a gift from the Holy Spirit. Doctrines have developed through history, enduring various controversies while continuously being passed down through Tradition, with Scripture serving as the objective standard of faith. The written word of God has helped the Church gain a deeper and fuller understanding of what the Holy Spirit reveals in the illuminating light of faith regarding God's mighty deeds in salvation history and the distribution of His diverse grace.

Dearly beloved, taking all care to write unto you concerning your common salvation,
I was under a necessity to write unto you: to beseech you to contend earnestly
for the faith once delivered to the saints.
Jude 1, 3

Thus, Tradition is the work of God through which He continues to reveal in greater measure to His Church what has been revealed and worded in the Scriptures. Hidden implications and ramifications in the inspired sacred writings come to light through the handing down of Tradition. The Church’s fundamental doctrines have developed over time with deep reflection and pondering of the heart under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The word of God isn’t altered or fabricated but better understood in time through timeless Tradition with the guarantee of the promised Paraclete. The apostles planted the deposit of faith in the form of a seed from which one and the same flower has continued to grow and blossom from one mysterious aspect to another. The definition of an article of faith resembles an entire work of mosaic art pieced together one tile at a time.

The apostle called the Church a “mystery,” which meant that, as the kingdom of God in our midst, it could not be understood by reason alone (Eph 5:32). The power to “bind and loose” or interpret divine revelation and define dogma lies with the Universal Magisterium of the world’s bishops in union with the Vicar of Christ. God’s infinite wisdom, which is revealed through His unwritten and written word, is a hidden mystery for all ages that can be made known more fully and with absolute certainty over the passage of time only through the magisterial teaching authority of the one true Church founded by Christ on Peter and the Apostles (Mat 16:15-18; Eph 3:9-10). The Three Pillars of Faith are Scripture, Tradition, and Magisterium. Neither pillar can support one’s true faith on its own. Nor can the one true faith be infallibly preserved and transmitted if one of the pillars is removed. Since the divine truth isn’t relativistic, the Holy Spirit operates in all three pillars. Nor is it interminably open for debate.

Early Sacred Tradition

“Since, therefore, the tradition from the apostles does thus exist in the Church, an
is permanent among us, let us revert to the Scriptural proof furnished by those apostles
who did also write the Gospel, in which they recorded the doctrine regarding God, pointing
out that our Lord Jesus Christ is the truth, and that no lie is in Him.”
St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3,5,1
(inter A.D. 180-189)

“But in learning the Faith and in professing it, acquire and keep that only, which is now
delivered to thee by the Church, and which has been built up strongly out of all the
Scriptures … Take heed then, brethren, and hold fast the traditions ye now receive.”
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 5:12
(A.D. 350)

“But beyond these Scriptural sayings, let us look at the very tradition, teaching, and faith
of the Catholic Church from the beginning, which the Lord gave, the apostles preached,
and the Fathers kept.”
St. Athanasius, Four Letters to Serapion of Thumius 1:28
(A.D. 360)

“I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth;
for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak,
and he will declare to you the things that are to come.”
John 16, 12-13

Pax vobiscum

They Shall Be One Flesh

 The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony

And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of
his ribs and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the Lord God had taken
from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said: This is now
bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken
out of Man. Therefore, shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto
his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
Genesis 2, 21-24

The husband should fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her
husband. The wife’s body does not belong to her alone but also to her husband. In the
same way, the husband’s body does not belong to him alone but also to his wife.
1 Corinthians 7, 3-4

In the Catholic faith, Holy Matrimony is one of the two sacraments of service and Holy Orders. Marriage is both a sacrament and a vocation. God is the author of marriage in the order of creation. “The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures, and spiritual attitudes” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1603). By vocation, the Catholic Church means a call to persons to accomplish a task preordained by God in the economy of salvation. Archbishop J. Francis Stafford says, “The highest joy in life for a Christian is searching out, discovering, and pursuing the purpose for which God called him into existence. The idea of vocation implies and demands a larger design to life.”

By its very nature, marriage is ordered for the good of the couple and for the generation and education of children. “The fruitfulness of conjugal love extends to the fruits of the moral, spiritual, and supernatural life that parents hand on to their children by education. Parents are the principal and first educators of their children. In this sense, the fundamental task of marriage and family is to be at the service of life” (CCC, 1653).

The mutual love between spouses mirrors God’s “absolute and unfailing love” for humanity. This love that God blesses “is intended to be fruitful and to be realized in the common work of watching over creation” (CCC, 1604). Thus, marriage as a divine vocation or service ordered by the will of God requires unity and fruitfulness. Spouses are called to grow daily in their communion through constant fidelity to their marriage vow of complete mutual self-giving. Marriage is created by God, so the spouses are called to a perpetual, faithful, and fruitful union directed toward the well-being of the spouses and their offspring. The dissolution of a marriage thwarts God’s purpose for it.

Wives, subject yourselves to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of
the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as
the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so
that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He
might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing;
but that she would be holy and blameless. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his
mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
Ephesians 5, 22-27, 31

Marriage as a service of life in the order of God’s creation is subsumed in the sacrament of Holy Matrimony. A sacrament is essentially a visible sign of an invisible or transcendent reality. Concerning marriage, “the sacrament of Matrimony signifies the union of Christ and the Church. It gives spouses the grace to love each other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church” (CCC, 1661). In the Catholic tradition, the institution of marriage was elevated to the level of a sacrament because it was assigned a divine origin and made an indissoluble union typifying the union of Christ with his church as his mystical body. Matrimony is a sacrament that is a sign of the unbreakable bond of love between Christ and his people: the Divine Bridegroom and his bride, which is the Church (Rev 19:17-19; 21:1-2).

In a sacramental marriage, God’s love becomes present to the spouses in their total union and flows through them to their family and community. The couple reveals something of God’s unconditional love through their permanent, faithful, and exclusive giving to each other, symbolized in their conjugal relations and being fruitful. The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony involves their entire life as they journey together through the better and the worse of marriage and become more equipped to give to and receive from each other. Their life becomes sacramental to the extent that the spouses cooperate with God’s action in their life and perceive themselves as living “in Christ” and Christ living and acting in them in how they relate to and treat each other.

Conjugal love involves a totality in which all the person’s characteristics enter. It aims to achieve a deeply personal unity that extends beyond union in one flesh to the formation of one heart, mind, and soul. This Christ-centered love demands indissolubility and faithfulness in definitive mutual self-giving and sacrifice and is open to fertility. A marriage that is no longer sacramental is a failed marriage.

Holy Matrimony is a sacrament of service. As such a sacrament, a husband and wife’s devotion to each other (and thereby to Christ) must mirror Christ’s love and service to the Church. Through marriage, a couple is bound to help build each other and their offspring up in faith, serve each other and the Church, and be faithful to each other until death. In Catholic teaching, six character traits of faithfulness should also be applied to marriage: commitment, love, longsuffering, patience, endurance, and steadfastness.

Marriage is an exclusive lifetime partnership, so marriage must possess these characteristics to be sacramental and successful. A sacramental marriage is vocational, and the spouses in this bond are called to discipleship. Thus, “Christ dwells with them, gives them the strength to take up their crosses and so follow him, to rise again after they have fallen, to forgive one another, to bear one another’s burdens, to ‘be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ,’ [Eph 5:21] and to love one another with supernatural, tender, and fruitful love. In the joys of their love and family life, he gives them here on earth a foretaste of the wedding feast of the Lamb” (CCC, 1642). The love of the spouses should mirror the love that Christ has for his Church and the love we all should have for each other in our discipleship, “ requires of its very nature, the unity, and indissolubility of the spouses’ community of persons, which embraces their entire life: “so they are no longer two, but one flesh.” They “are called to grow continually in their communion through day-to-day fidelity to their marriage promise of total mutual self-giving. This human communion is confirmed, purified, and completed by communion in Jesus Christ, given through the sacrament of Matrimony” (CCC, 1644).

“By its very nature, conjugal love requires the inviolable fidelity of the spouses. This is the consequence of their gift to each other. Love seeks to be definitive; it cannot be an arrangement “until further notice.” The “intimate union of marriage, as a mutual giving of two persons, and the good of the children, demand total fidelity from the spouses and require an unbreakable union between them” (CCC, 1646). “The deepest reason is found in the fidelity of God to his covenant, in that of Christ to his Church. Through the sacrament of matrimony, the spouses can represent and witness this fidelity. Through the sacrament, the indissolubility of marriage receives a new and deeper meaning” (CCC 1647).

The Old Testament addresses the fidelity and perpetuity of marriage and likens Yahweh’s covenant with Israel to that between husband and wife. God created man and woman out of love and commanded them to imitate His love in their relations. Man and woman were created for each other: “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him. … The two of them become one body.” (Gen 2:18, 24). Catholic teaching holds that all the sacraments bestow grace on those who receive them with the proper disposition. Grace describes how God shares His divine life with us and gives us the help we need to live as followers of Christ. In marriage, the grace of this sacrament brings to the spouses the particular help they need to be faithful to each other and good parents. It also helps a couple serve others beyond their immediate family and show the community that a loving and lasting marriage is desirable and possible if centered in Christ.

The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony is thus a covenant of love. Being married isn’t just about having a “soul mate” or being with somebody for practical convenience. Marriage isn’t a business arrangement or even a legal contract. A marriage cannot be healthy or indissoluble unless it is a covenant of unconditional love, despite one’s partner’s imperfections, health, or financial contributions. Marriage does not lie within the criteria of a contract but rather that of a covenant. A fundamental difference between a contract and a covenant is that a contract is divided between two human parties and agreed upon as a matter of honor and personal security. Legal proceedings are in place to enforce such private agreements. Each party is more concerned about its own private interests. Unconditional love, fidelity, and self-sacrifice aren’t part of the criteria for signing a legal contract.

“The consent by which the spouses mutually give and receive one another is sealed by God himself. From their covenant arises “an institution, confirmed by the divine law. . . even in the eyes of society.” The covenant between the spouses is integrated into God’s covenant with man: “Authentic married love is caught up into divine love” (CCC, 1639). “Thus, the marriage bond has been established by God so that a marriage concluded and consummated between baptized persons can never be dissolved. This bond, which results from the free human act of the spouses and their consummation of the marriage, is a reality, henceforth irrevocable, and gives rise to a covenant guaranteed by God’s fidelity. The Church does not have the power to contravene this disposition of divine wisdom” (CCC, 1640). “” The unity of marriage, distinctly recognized by our Lord, is made clear in the equal personal dignity which must be accorded to man and wife in mutual and unreserved affection” (CCC, 1645).

Jesus unequivocally taught the original meaning of the union of man and woman as his heavenly Father willed it from the beginning. Permission given by Moses to divorce one’s wife was a concession to the hardness of hearts. But the union of man and woman is indissoluble: God himself has determined it: “What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder.” (cf. Mt 19:3-10). “By restoring the original order of creation disturbed by sin, he gives the strength and grace to live marriage in the new dimension of the Reign of God. By following Christ, renouncing themselves, and taking up their crosses, spouses will be able to “receive” the original meaning of marriage and live it with the help of Christ. This grace of Christian marriage is a fruit of Christ’s cross, the source of all Christian life” (CCC, 1615).

The exchange of consent between the spouses makes the marriage valid. If consent is lacking because of coercion or circumstantial pressure, no marriage can thereby be annulled by the Church. Consent must be canonically expressed between two persons capable of giving it. By their free, mutual consent, the couple forms the marriage covenant. It is on this covenant they build a life-long bond. While the sacrament is received at one moment in real-time, sacramental grace continues to flow and be received throughout the married couple’s lives. The offering of themselves to each other is a gift of grace. Grace is added upon grace as they grow in conjugal love and bear the fruits of their marriage.

Thus, marital consent is a free human act that isn’t based on individual self-interest in which the man and the woman offer themselves to each other as gifts of grace. The consent by which the spouses mutually give to each other and receive is sealed by God. The covenant between the spouses is integrated into God’s covenant with human beings. The four characteristics of a marriage blessed by God through the administration of the sacrament are freedom of consent, the totality of giving oneself to the other, faithfulness, and fruitfulness. All these characteristics are grounded on and reinforced by the greatest theological Christian virtue: unconditional love from which flow kindness, gentleness, humility, patience, forbearance, honesty, compassion, mercy, and understanding.

Sacred Scripture confirms Catholic tradition and the sacramental nature of matrimony. We see that, from the beginning, man and woman are joined together by God and become one body as husband and wife (Gen 2:20-24). A human body cannot be divided or dismembered and still be animated with life. A husband and wife share a single soul in one body in the order of God’s creation. God speaks through His prophet and declares, ““For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with violence,” says the LORD of armies. “So be careful about your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously” (Mal 2:16).

Indeed, Jesus makes it clear that God joins the husband and wife together according to His will. What God joins together must not be dissolved (Mt 19:6). Our Lord actually says that whoever divorces and remarries another commits adultery (Mt 19:9; Mk 10:11-12; Lk 16:18). This is an offense against the natural law that has been established by God. Paul reiterates Jesus’ teaching that sacramental marriage followed by a divorce and remarriage is adultery. The apostle writes: ‘Thus a married woman is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives; but if her husband dies, she is discharged from the law concerning the husband. Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man, she is not an adulteress’ (Rom 7:2-3; cf. 1 Cor 7:10-11).

The Lord permits divorce only for porneia (πορνεία ). This Greek noun often refers to unlawful sexual intercourse and non-sacramental unions such as between siblings and other close family members (incest). The Lord does not permit divorce for adultery (moicheia / μοιχεία) in the case of an extra-marital affair. We should note that in unlawful cases, a marriage (between a father and his daughter, for instance) never existed in the first place, so the Lord is not permitting divorce but declaring a dissolution of an unlawful union by annulling it as a non-existent marriage.

But to the married, I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife is not to leave her
husband (but if she does leave, she must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband,
and that the husband is not to divorce his wife.
1 Corinthians 7, 10-11

Finally, Paul says that the sacramental union of husband and wife is the image of Christ and the Church. A husband and wife are inseparable as much as Christ the Bridegroom and His Bride the Church are (Eph 5:22-32). A civil divorce cannot dissolve a sacramental marriage between two baptized Christians. However, we have what the Catholic Church calls the “Pauline privilege.” If two unbaptized people marry, and afterward, one of the spouses is baptized, the Christian is free to remarry if the unbaptized spouse decides to end the marriage. This is because the marriage between two unbaptized people is non-sacramental (1 Cor 7:12-15).

The marital union of man and woman reflects Christ’s union with the Church at the heavenly marriage supper (Rev 19:9). Those who get married in the Church must first be baptized and understand this divine mystery. Just as Christ and the Church have become one flesh through the sacrament of Holy Eucharist, and the union brings forth spiritual life for God’s children, a man, and a woman become one flesh, and their union brings forth physical life for the Church. This marital union is sacramental and thus indissoluble.

Hence, Holy Matrimony is one of the two sacraments of service. It is sacramental in that the mutual love between spouses mirrors God’s absolute and unfailing love for humanity and Christ for his bride, the Church. A husband and wife’s devotion to each other must mirror Christ’s love and service to the Church. In a sacramental marriage, God’s love becomes present to the spouses in their total union and flows through them to their family and community.

By its very vocational nature, marriage is ordered for the good of the couple and for the generation and education of children. Conjugal love involves a totality in which all the person’s characteristics enter. It aims to achieve a deeply personal unity that extends beyond union in one flesh to the formation of one heart, mind, and soul. Conjugal love requires the inviolable fidelity of the spouses. The Old Testament addresses the fidelity and perpetuity of marriage and likens Yahweh’s covenant with Israel to that between husband and wife. The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony is thus a covenant of love. The consent by which the spouses mutually give and receive one another makes the marriage valid and is sealed by God Himself. By following Christ, renouncing themselves, and taking up their crosses, spouses (disciples of Christ) will be able to receive the original meaning of marriage and live it with the help of Christ.

Early Sacred Tradition

“Flee wicked arts; but all the more discourse regarding them. Speak to my sisters, that they
love in our Lord, and that their husbands be sufficient for them in the flesh and spirit. Then,
again, charge my brethren in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they love their wives,
as our Lord His Church. If any man is able in power to continue in purity, to the honor of
the flesh of our Lord, let him continue so without boasting; if he boasts, he is undone; if he
becomes known apart from the bishop, he has destroyed himself. It is becoming, therefore,
to men and women who marry, that they marry with the counsel of the bishop, that the
marriage may be in our Lord, and not in lust. Let everything, therefore, be done for the
honor of God.”
St. Ignatius of Antioch, To Polycarp, 5
(A.D. 110)

“Now that the Scripture counsels marriage, and allows no release from the union, is
expressly contained in the law, ‘Thou shalt not put away thy wife, except for the cause of
fornication;’ and it regards as fornication, the marriage of those separated while the other is
alive. Not to deck and adorn herself beyond what is becoming, renders a wife free of
calumnious suspicion while she devotes herself assiduously to prayers and supplications;
avoiding frequent departures from the house, and shutting herself up as far as possible from
the view of all not related to her, and deeming housekeeping of more consequence than
impertinent trifling. ‘He that taketh a woman that has been put away,’ it is said, ‘committeth
adultery; and if one puts away his wife, he makes her an adulteress,’ that is, compels her to
commit adultery. And not only is he who puts her away guilty of this, but he who takes her,
by giving to the woman the opportunity of sinning; for did he not take her, she would return
to her husband.”
St. Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, 2:24
(A.D. 202)

“‘What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.’ See a teacher’s
wisdom. I mean, that being asked, Is it lawful? He did not at once say, It is not lawful, lest
they should be disturbed and put in disorder, but before the decision by His argument He
rendered this manifest, showing that it is itself too the commandment of His Father, and
that not in opposition to Moses did He enjoin these things, but in full agreement with him.
But mark Him arguing strongly not from the creation only, but also from His command. For
He said not that He made one man and one woman only, but that He also gave this
command that the one man should be joined to the one woman. But if it had been His will
that he should put this one away, and bring in another, when He had made one man, He
would have formed many Women. But now both by the manner of the creation, and by the
manner of lawgiving, He showed that one man must dwell with one woman continually, and
never break off from her.”
St. John Chrysostom, On Matthew 62:1
(A.D. 370)

“There is hardly anything more deadly than being married to one who is a stranger to the
faith, where the passions of lust and dissension and the evils of sacrilege are inflamed. Since
the marriage ceremony ought to be sanctified by the priestly veiling and blessing, how can
that be called a marriage ceremony where there is no agreement in faith?”
St. Ambrose, To Vigilius, Letter 19:7
(A.D. 385)

“Therefore the good of marriage throughout all nations and all men stands in the occasion
of begetting, and faith of chastity: but, so far as pertains unto the People of God, also in
the sanctity of the Sacrament, by reason of which it is unlawful for one who leaves her
husband, even when she has been put away, to be married to another, so long as her
husband lives, no not even for the sake of bearing children: and, whereas this is the alone
cause, wherefore marriage takes place, not even where that very thing, wherefore it takes
place, follows not, is the marriage bond loosed, save by the death of the husband or wife.”
St. Augustine, On the Good of Marriage, 24:32
(A.D. 401)

Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and
female… Have you not read, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and
be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one’? So they are no longer two but one.
What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.”
Matthew 19, 4-6

Pax vobiscum