The Sacrament of Matrimony

1
The Sacrament of Matrimony

• Chapter 9

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HELPING EACH OTHER GROW IN LOVE

• Marriage established by God for two reasons
• The good of the husband and wife
• To help each other understand and experience true
  love draws each other closer to God
• The procreation and education of children
• The effects of the Sacrament are directed towards
  the spouse and any children as well.

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An Intimate Communion

• Man and woman were created to be one
• Original Sin separates the two sexes
• The Sacrament confers the grace necessary to
  overcome the division and become one as God
  intended
• Love each other physically and emotionally but
  also in Christ
• Recognize that God is present in their love for
  their spouse and children Its Gods love acting
  through them for others
• Act as a sign of Gods faithful love
• Daily fidelity through highest and lowest moments

4
An Intimate Communion

• How can I ever express the happiness of a
  marriage joined by the Church, strengthened by an
  offering, sealed by a blessing, announced by
  angels, and ratified by the Father? How
  wonderful the bond between two believers, now one
  in hope, one in desire, one in discipline, one in
  the same service! They are both children of one
  Father and servants of the same Master, undivided
  in spirit and flesh, truly two in one flesh.
  Where the flesh is one, one also is the spirit.
• CCC 1642
• Christs love for the Church is better understood
  through marriage commitment
• Through Matrimony we receive a foretaste of the
  joy that will result of our final and complete
  union with our Lord

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UNDERSTANDING THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY

• Man longs to be united
• It is part of our human nature we have been
  detached
• Woman is mans helper and vice versa
• We grow close to each other and attach ourselves
  to one another united
• Through this mutual relationship we both grow to
  understand the great love and passion Christ has
  for his Church
• Through the Church we are prepared to receive the
  true unity that we have been longing for

6
Marriage in the New Covenant

• Christ restored the dignity of marriage, raised
  it to a sacramental level (divorce, polygamy,
  adultery)
• Made it indissoluble
• What God has joined together, no human must
  separate. (Mt 196)
• Due to the spiritual reality to which it points
• EFFICACIOUS What is the reality? To open our
  eyes, an opportunity to sacrifice ourselves like
  Christ, make ourselves like him
• The Bride and Groom are the ministers
• Confer a grace to each other that is not only for
  their good but also for the good of the Church
• Declaration of nullity
• The marriage was never valid (One of the
  ministers not fully willing to enter into
  commitment)

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The Sacrament of Marriage Today

• Only a sacrament if between two baptized
  Christians
• Priest or deacon must be present as well as two
  witnesses
• Vatican II on Matrimony
• Christian marriage is to help both spouses grow
  in spiritual perfection
• A healthy family life promotes the well-being of
  both human and Christian society
• Revised the Rite of Marriage to emphasize the
  spouses duties to one another

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CELEBRATING THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY

• Three rites in Rite of Marriage wo are a
  sacrament
• Rite for Celebrating Marriage During Mass
• Rite for Celebrating Marriage Outside Mass
• Rite for Celebrating Marriage Between a Catholic
  and an Unbaptized Person
• Church often requires engaged couples to enter
  marriage prep programs
• Discuss finances, in-laws, number of children and
  their education, how to handle disagreements,
  sexuality, etc.

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Free Consent and Exchange of Vows

• Consent must be freely given
• Essential for validity
• Must have sincere desire to be faithful to spouse
• Must be open to new life, especially children
• Presence of priest and witnesses expresses that
  marriage is a reality in the Church with certain
  rights and responsibilities
• The priest questions both bride and groom
  separately on their freedom of choice
• Then asks them to exchange their marriage consent
  (vows)
• Establishes a permanent covenant in love

10
Blessing and Exchange of Rings

• Rings do not have a beginning or an end
• Symbolizes
• The eternal love God has for humans
• The eternal commitment of Christ to the Church
• The promise by the bride and groom to be faithful
  to one another until death

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Nuptial Blessing

• After the Our Father
• Priest raises hands and blesses the couple with
  the love of God and his graces throughout their
  days as of married life
• Similar to laying on of hands
• Symbolizes the transmission of Gods grace
• Priest acts in person of Christ We know God
  through Christ

12
Holy Communion

• Bride and groom celebrate the sacrament of
  Penance in order to be properly disposed to
  receive the Eucharist
• Not part of the wedding ceremony
• Strengthens and nourishes their married life
• Receive a blessing at the end of Mass
• Essentially, that after many years of marriage
  they may enter the Kingdom of God

13
THE GRACES OF THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMIONY

• The commitment of marriage forms a covenant
  between husband and wife
• Covenant is a personal contract
• Lasts forever doesnt end when ceremony ends
• Graces continue throughout their lives
• The graces of marriage not only cultivate
  communion within the family but also with Christ,
  the Church, and society

14
Communion Between Spouses

• Marriage helps to overcome self-absorption,
  egoism, pursuit of ones own pleasure, and to
  open one-self to the other, to mutual aid and to
  self-giving (CCC, 1609)
• Unconditional love no matter what
• Old age or health condition
• Love whether you feel like it or not
• True communion is fruitful
• Make sacrifices for the better of the other
• Matrimony at the service of communion
• Sexuality
• Fidelity - an attribute of God both become more
  like God and grow in holiness
• Respect and honor each other

15
Communion in Christ

• Helps husbands and wives enter into the Paschal
  Mystery of Christ
• Marriage becomes a way of discipleship dying to
  sin and rising in holiness
• Christ abides with them in order that by their
  mutual self-giving spouses will love each other
  with enduring fidelity, as he loved the church
  and delivered himself for it

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The closer we are to God the closer we are to our
spouse, children, and neighbors
GOD
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Family Communion

• The graces of marriage allow family members to be
  Christ for one another
• St. Mary and St. Joseph said yes to raising Jesus
  so do we in marriage affirm Christ to the world
  today by raising children and helping them grow
  in the image of Christ
• Domestic church
• The place where Christians receive their first
  impression of the faith
• Foster one anothers self-esteem, worth and
  lovability so that children may do the same when
  they spread out in the community

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Communion with the Church

• How Christian families join the Church in her
  mission
• Promote faith as well as evangelization at home
  and with others
• Parents set a good example
• Regularly attend Mass, receive the sacraments,
  practice faith with reverence
• Help serve the needs of the parish
• Serve during after Mass
• Help with Church missions
• Assist with Catholic education classes

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Communion with Society

• Sacrament of Matrimony calls spouses and their
  children to help build a world of justice, peace,
  and love in all places - workplace, athletics,
  leisure time, politics, etc.
• Parents socialize their children
• where they first learn communication and social
  skills
• Become aware of the rights and needs of others
  and their responsibility to contribute to common
  good
• Families participate in politics
• as candidates, voters, and lobbyists
• Create and/or represent a voice that stands for
  the values of the Church and her mission
• Families work to promote justice and peace
• serve the poor, needy and, defenseless uphold
  their human dignity
• Families teach children that all humans are
  created in Gods image

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CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE A SIGN OF GODS ETERNAL
COVENANT WITH HUMANITY

• Matrimony recalls Gods covenant with humanity
• The Israelites turned away from God time and time
  again/We continually turn to sin
• However, God remained steadfast to his promise
  and honored the covenant they established
• His love was/is indissoluble cannot be broken
• Married couples are called to love each other in
  the same capacity

21
Openness to New Life

• Fruitful love
• For Matrimony to be valid, both spouses must be
  open to children
• They are called to be partners with God in
  creating new life
• Church teaches against the evils of
• Abortion, contraception, and sterilization
• Prohibits a total giving of self to other spouse.
  Interfering with Gods plan and having attitude
  that you know best. Saying to spouse, I like you
  but not enough to have kids with you.
• Natural Family Planning responsible method
• Not all married couples are blessed with children
• Still called to a life that is fruitful
• Creates the occasion to serve those in need

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The Unity of Marriage

• In marriage the physical intimacy of spouses
  becomes a sign and pledge of spiritual communion
  (CCC, 2360)
• Man and womans love becomes incarnate through
  conjugal sex just like Gods love became
  incarnate through Christ
• Two purposes of sex in marriage
• Unitive
• Fosters intimacy
• Provides emotional security feeling of
  acceptance (why shouldnt engage in premarital
  sex, you are giving another person a false sense
  of security in yourself goes for both sexes)
• Reduces stress and anxiety between the couple
• Procreative

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Sex is Sacramental

• The act of sex is the sign that initially seals
  Matrimony but it also continually renews it
• Just like the Eucharist, the graces are continual
  and nourish the relationship
• Man and woman are both body and soul and are
  therefore sacramental
• They effect a spiritual reality
• The union of their bodies through sexual
  intercourse is also a union of their souls
• As an incarnate spirit, that is a soul which
  expresses itself in a body and a body informed by
  an immortal spirit, man is called to love in his
  unified totality. Love includes the human body,
  and the body is made a sharer in spiritual love.
  John Paul II FAMILIARIS CONSORTIO

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Sex is Sacramental

• Children are not only an incarnation of a soul
  but also of their parents love
• God uses material, the sexual union of male and
  female to create new human life
• Just as Gods Words became Flesh and dwelt among
  us (Incarnation)
• So too, does the man and womans word
  (consent/will) become flesh (sexual intercourse
  the expression of their will) and dwell among us
  (children)
• Sex is sacred because God uses it to foster unity
  between a man and a woman but also to create new
  beings in His image

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Sex is Sacramental

• So if conjugal sex is sacred, what is
  pre-marital sex?
• SACRILEGE - the desecration of something holy
• It (sexual expression) is realized in a truly
  human way only if it is an integral part of the
  love by which a man and a woman commit themselves
  totally to one another until death. The total
  physical self-giving would be a lie if it were
  not the sign and fruit of a total personal
  self-giving - John Paul II FAMILIARIS CONSORTIO

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Sex is Sacramental

• Why is premarital sex a lie?
• Because if done outside of marriageyou are
  saying something serious and profound with your
  body that you have not said with your will,
  therefore you are lying with your body!
• Honesty with deepest part of our person
  Happiness
• Dishonesty with the deepest part of our person
  Hurt
• As Christ said at the Last Supper and with His
  life on the cross, This is my body, given up for
  you, so men and woman say the same in the
  sacrament of marriage!
• We have the responsibility to act as ministers in
  the Sacrament of Marriage, offering ourselves in
  service to our spouse and leading them towards
  God and away from sin
• as Christians we fail if we lie and also do a
  grave disservice to the other person by leading
  them astray from God We are irresponsible with
  the gift that God has entrusted us with

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Sex is Sacramental

• Receiving the Eucharist is the consummation of
  our covenant with Christ and God.
• Sexual union is the husbands and wifes
  consummation of their marriage covenant with each
  other.
• According to Augustine
• He came to the marriage bed of the cross, and
  there, in mounting it, he consummated his
  marriage. And where he perceived the sighs of the
  creature, he lovingly gave himself up in place of
  his bride, and he joined himself to the woman
  forever.
• By giving himself up he created the Church
• By giving ourselves up we contribute to the
  Church