Marriage an Integral Part
of New Sacramental Economy
General Audience, October 20, 1982
1. Last Wednesday we spoke of the
integral heritage of the covenant with God, and of the grace
originally united to the divine work of creation. Marriage was also
a part of this integral heritage—as can be deduced from the Letter
to the Ephesians 5:21-33—marriage, that is, as a primordial
sacrament instituted from the beginning and linked with the
sacrament of creation in its globality. The sacramentality of
marriage is not merely a model and figure of the sacrament of the
Church (of Christ and of the Church). It also constitutes an
essential part of the new heritage, that of the sacrament of
redemption, with which the Church is endowed in Christ.
Here it is necessary yet again to refer to Christ's words in Matthew
19:3-9 (cf. also Mk 10:5-9). In replying to the question of the
Pharisees concerning marriage, Christ refers only and exclusively to
its original institution on the part of the Creator at the
beginning. Reflecting on the significance of this reply in the light
of the Letter to the Ephesians, and in particular of Ephesians
5:21-33, we end up with a relationship—in a certain sense twofold—of
marriage with the whole sacramental order which, in the new
covenant, emerges from the same sacrament of redemption.
2. Marriage as a primordial sacrament constitutes, on the one hand,
the figure (the likeness, the analogy), according to which there is
constructed the basic main structure of the new economy of salvation
and of the sacramental order. This order draws its origin from the
spousal gracing which the Church received from Christ, together with
all the benefits of redemption (one could say, using the opening
words of the Letter to the Ephesians, "with every spiritual
blessing"—1:3). In this way marriage, as a primordial sacrament, is
assumed and inserted into the integral structure of the new
sacramental economy, arising from redemption in the form, I would
say, of a "prototype." It is assumed and inserted as it were from
its very bases. In conversation with the Pharisees, Christ himself
first of all reconfirmed its existence (Mt 19:3-9). Reflecting
deeply on this dimension, one would have to conclude that in a
certain sense all the sacraments of the new covenant find their
prototype in marriage as the primordial sacrament. This seems to be
indicated in the classic passage quoted from the Letter to the
Ephesians, as we shall say again soon.
3. However, the relationship of marriage with the whole sacramental
order, deriving from the endowment of the Church with the benefits
of the redemption, is not limited merely to the dimension of model.
In his conversation with the Pharisees (cf. Mt 19), Christ confirms
the existence of marriage instituted from the beginning by the
Creator. Not only that, he declares it also an integral part of the
new sacramental economy, of the new order of salvific signs which
derives its origin from the sacrament of redemption, just as the
original economy emerged from the sacrament of creation. In fact,
Christ limited himself to the unique sacrament which was marriage
instituted in the state of innocence and of original justice of man,
created male and female "in the image and likeness of God."
4. The new sacramental economy which is constituted on the basis of
the sacrament of redemption, deriving from the spousal gracing of
the Church on the part of Christ, differs from the original economy.
Indeed, it is directed not to the man of justice and original
innocence, but to the man burdened with the heritage of original sin
and with the state of sinfulness (status naturae lapsae). It is
directed to the man of the threefold concupiscence, according to the
classic words of 1 John 2:16, to the man in whom "the desires of the
flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are
against the flesh" (Gal 5:17), according to the Pauline theology
(and anthropology), to which we have devoted much space in our
previous reflections.
5. These considerations, following upon a deeper analysis of the
significance of Christ's statement in the Sermon on the Mount
concerning the lustful look as adultery of the heart, prepare for an
understanding of marriage as an integral part of the new sacramental
order. This order has its origin in the sacrament of redemption,
that is to say, in that great mystery which, as the mystery of
Christ and of the Church, determines the sacramentality of the
Church itself. These considerations also prepare for an
understanding of marriage as a sacrament of the new covenant, whose
salvific work is organically linked with the ensemble of that ethos
which was defined in the previous analyses as the ethos of
redemption. The Letter to the Ephesians expresses the same truth in
its own way. It speaks of marriage as a great sacrament in a wide
parenetic context, that is, in the context of exhortations of a
moral nature. It concerns precisely the ethos which should
characterize the life of Christians, that is, of people aware of the
election which is realized in Christ and in the Church.
6. Against this vast background of reflections which emerge from
reading the Letter to the Ephesians (especially 5:21-33), one can
and should eventually touch again the problem of the sacraments of
the Church. The text cited from the Letter to the Ephesians speaks
of it in an indirect and, I would say, secondary way, though
sufficient to bring this problem within the scope of our
considerations. However, it is fitting to clarify here, at least
briefly, the sense in which we use the term "sacrament," which is
significant for our considerations.
7. Until now we have used the term "sacrament" (in conformity with
the whole of biblical-patristic tradition)(1) in a sense wider than
that proper to traditional and contemporary theological terminology.
By the word "sacrament" this terminology means the signs instituted
by Christ and administered by the Church, which signify and confer
divine grace on the person who receives the relative sacrament. In
this sense each of the seven sacraments of the Church is
characterized by a determinate liturgical action, made up of words
(the form) and the specific sacramental "matter"—according to the
widespread hylomorphic theory deriving from Thomas Aquinas and the
whole scholastic tradition.
8. In relationship to this rather restricted meaning, we have used
in our considerations a wider and perhaps also more ancient and
fundamental meaning of the term "sacrament."(2) The Letter to the
Ephesians, especially 5:21-33, seems in a particular way to
authorize us to do so. Here sacrament signifies the very mystery of
God, which is hidden from eternity; however, not in an eternal
concealment, but above all, in its very revelation and actuation
(furthermore, in its revelation through its actuation). In this
sense we spoke also of the sacrament of creation and of the
sacrament of redemption. On the basis of the sacrament of creation,
one must understand the original sacramentality of marriage (the
primordial sacrament). Following upon this, on the basis of the
sacrament of redemption one can understand the sacramentality of the
Church, or rather the sacramentality of the union of Christ with the
Church. The author of the Letter to the Ephesians presents this
under the simile of marriage, of the conjugal union of husband and
wife. A careful analysis of the text shows that in this case, it is
not merely a comparison in a metaphorical sense, but of a real
renewal (or of a "re-creation," that is, of a new creation) of that
which constituted the salvific content (in a certain sense, the
"salvific substance") of the primordial sacrament. This observation
has an essential significance both for the clarification of the
sacramentality of the Church (the very significant words of the
first chapter of Lumen Gentium refer to this), and also for the
understanding of the sacramentality of marriage, understood
precisely as one of the sacraments of the Church.
Notes
1) Cf. Leo XIII, Acta, Vol. II, 1881, p. 22.
2) In this regard, cf. discourse at the general audience of
September 8, 1982, note 1 (English edition, 13 September, p.2, 1982,
p. 2).
Taken from: L'Osservatore Romano Weekly Edition in English 25
October 1982, page 3
Return to the Theology of the Body Main
Page...
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary