CHRIST IN THE HOME
http://www.ewtn.com/library/FAMILY/CHRISTH1.TXT
BY RAOUL PLUS, S.J.
a Translation from the French
FREDERICK PUSTET CO., INC. Publishers NEW YORK AND
CINCINNATI
Nihil Obstat:
JOHN M. A. FEARNS, S.T.D., Censor Librorum
Imprimatur:
+FRANCIS CARDINAL SPELLMAN,
Archbishop of New York
New York, June 19, 1951
MARRIAGE
ONE HEART, ONE SOUL
How happy are married persons who can say as Maurice Retour to his
wife, "We love each other for our ideas. We see only God and we have
become united in order to serve Him better." Such is Christian love.
"We shall ask Christ, who sanctified marriage, to give us all the
graces necessary for us. We pray with force but also with joy because
we have great confidence in the future since both of us expect our
happiness from God alone."
And after Holy Communion which they both received on their wedding
day they begged God "to make their mutual love always effect their
personal sanctification, to bless their home by sending them many
children, to keep in His grace themselves, their little ones and all
who would ever live under their roof."
Sometimes we hear it said that there are no examples of married
persons living effectively the holy law of marriage as God prescribed
it and Christ ratified it.
There are many. More than one might think. And, thanks be to God,
there have been some in all ages.
In the time of the early Church, Tertullian, believing his death to
be approaching, wrote two books entitled Ad Uxorem, "To My Wife." In
the last chapter of the second book he gives an unforgettable picture
of marriage. One cannot meditate on it too often.
He extols the happiness of marriage "which the Church approves, the
Holy Sacrifice confirms, the Blessing seals, the Angels witness, and
God ratifies. What an alliance is that of two faithful souls united
in a single hope, under a single discipline, under a similar
dependence. Both are servants of the same Master. There is no
distinction of mind or of body. Both are in truth one flesh; where
there is but one body, there is but one mind. They kneel in prayer
together, they teach each other, support each other. They are
together in church, together at the Banquet of God, together in
trials, in joy. They are incapable of hiding anything from each
other, of deserting each other, of annoying each other. In complete
liberty, they visit the sick and help the poor. Without anxiety about
each other they give alms freely, assist at Holy Mass and without any
embarrassment manifest their fervor daily. They do not know what it
means to make a furtive sign of the Cross, to mumble trembling
greetings, to invoke silent blessings. They sing hymns and psalms
vying with each other to give God the most praise. Christ rejoices to
see and hear them and gives them His peace. Wherever they are, Christ
is with them.
"That is marriage as the Apostle speaks of it to us . . . The
faithful cannot be otherwise in their marriage."
Oh, that we might fulfill this ideal in our marriage
We must pray for it and really want it.
MARRIAGE AND THE BIBLE (1)
I. The Law of Union.
How marvelous is the description of the creation of man and woman
which the book of Genesis gives us.
God has created the universe. He has hurled worlds into space. Among
all these worlds is the earth and on it are all the splendors of the
mineral world, the plant world, and the animal world. Each time God
sent forth some new creature from His creative Hands, He paused and
said, "It is good!" God saw that it was good.
Yes, all of that creation is but a framework, a pedestal. Whom does
He intend to place within that framework, upon that pedestal?
Man.
Look at Adam. He has intelligence, free will, and a heart.
A heart--the power to love. But to whom will man direct that power of
love which God has placed in him?
God placed all of creation "beneath his feet." But what does it mean
for man to have everything beneath his feet if he has no one to clasp
to his heart? God understood man. That is why the Most High is not
satisfied upon the completion of His masterpiece. He does not say as
He did after each preceding creation, "It is good," but He says, "It
is not good for man to be alone."
Therefore, the Most High, the divine Sculptor, chisel in hand
approaches His masterpiece to attack the marble anew; he lays open
its side and from the avenues to the heart removes a part; this part
of Adam, He forms into woman. A magnificent indication of how close
must be the union between husband and wife! A union of wonderful
strength, engendered by love and for love! Saint Thomas explains that
"God took the substance with which He formed woman close to the heart
of man. He did not take it from the head for she is not made to
dominate. Neither did he take it from man's feet, for she is not made
for servitude. He took it near the heart because she is made to love
and to be loved."
Such is the marvel of the union of love in marriage according to God.
Love will make of two beings a single one.
Adam acclaimed it upon awaking: "This now is bone of my bones and
flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken
out of man." That is why the sacred text adds: "Wherefore a man shall
leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall
be two in one flesh."
This virginal page does not yet speak of the mother but only of the
spouse. God gives Man a companion--not several but one--and this
society is called conjugal society. This society will be composed of
two persons, a couple, only two. So true is this that until this
first woman became a mother she had no name of her own. There was
only one name for both.
How wonderful is the inviolable oneness of the human couple according
to the desire of God!
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Lord, may everything we do begin with Your inspiration and continue
with Your help,
so that all our prayers and works may begin in You and by You be happily ended.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
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Lord, may everything we do begin with Your inspiration and continue
with Your help,
so that all our prayers and works may begin in You and by You be happily ended.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
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