Marriage Is the Central
Point of the Sacrament of Creation
General Audience, October 6, 1982
1. We continue the analysis of the
classic text of the Letter to the Ephesians, 5:21-33. For this
purpose it is necessary to quote some phrases contained in one of
the preceding analyses devoted to this theme: "Man appears in the
visible world as the highest expression of the divine gift, because
he bears within himself the interior dimension of the gift. With it
he brings into the world his particular likeness to God, whereby he
transcends and dominates also his 'visibility' in the world, his
corporality, his masculinity or femininity, his nakedness. Resulting
from this likeness there is also the primordial awareness of the
conjugal significance of the body, pervaded by the mystery of
original innocence" (L'amore umano nel piano divino, Citta del
Vaticano, 1980, p. 90). These phrases sum up in a few words the
result of the analyses devoted to the first chapters of Genesis, in
relation to the words with which Christ, in his conversation with
the Pharisees on the subject of marriage and its indissolubility,
referred to the "beginning." Other phrases of the same analysis pose
the problem of the primordial sacrament: "Thus, in this dimension,
there is constituted a primordial sacrament, understood as a sign
which effectively transmits in the visible world the invisible
mystery hidden from eternity in God. This is the mystery of truth
and love, the mystery of the divine life in which man really
shares.... It is the original innocence which initiates this
participation..." (ibid., p. 90).
The state of man before original sin
2. It is necessary to look again at the content of these statements
in the light of the Pauline doctrine expressed in the Letter to the
Ephesians, bearing in mind especially the passage of chapter 5,
verses 21-33, situated in the overall context of the entire letter.
In any event, the letter authorizes us to do this, because the
author himself referred to the "beginning," and precisely to the
words of the institution of marriage in Genesis (Eph 5:31; cf. Gn
2:24). In what sense can we see in these words a statement about the
sacrament, about the primordial sacrament? The previous analyses of
the biblical "beginning" have led us gradually to this, in
consideration of the state of the original endowment of man in
existence and in grace, which was the state of innocence and
original justice. The Letter to the Ephesians leads us to approach
this situation—that is, the state of man before original sin—from
the point of view of the mystery hidden in God from eternity. In
fact, we read in the first phrases of the letter that "God, Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ...has blessed us in Christ with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. He chose us in him before
the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless
before him" (Eph 1:3-4).
God's eternal plan
3. The Letter to the Ephesians opens up before us the supernatural
world of the eternal mystery, of the eternal plans of God the Father
concerning man. These plans precede the creation of the world, and
therefore also the creation of man. At the same time those divine
plans begin to be put into effect already in the entire reality of
creation. If also the state of original innocence of man, created as
male and female in the likeness of God, pertains to the mystery of
creation, this implies that the primordial gift conferred on man by
God already includes within itself the fruit of having been chosen,
which we read of in the Letter to the Ephesians: "He chose us...that
we should be holy and blameless before him" (Eph 1:4). This indeed
seems to be indicated by the words of Genesis, when the Creator-Elohim
finds in man—male and female—who appeared before him, a good worthy
of gratification: "God saw everything that he had made, and behold,
it was very good" (Gn 1:31). Only after sin, after breaking the
original covenant with the Creator, man feels the need to hide
himself "from the Lord God." "I heard the sound of you in the
garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself" (Gn
3:10).
4. On the contrary, before sin, man bore in his soul the fruit of
eternal election in Christ, the eternal Son of the Father. By means
of the grace of this election man, male and female, was "holy and
blameless" before God. That primordial (or original) holiness and
purity were expressed also in the fact that, although both were
"naked, they were not ashamed" (Gn 2:25), as we have sought to make
evident in the previous analyses. Comparing the testimony of the
"beginning" found in the first chapters of Genesis, with the
testimony of the Letter to the Ephesians, one must deduce that the
reality of man's creation was already imbued by the perennial
election of man in Christ. Man is called to sanctity through the
grace of the adoption as sons. "He destined us to be his sons
through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the
praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us in the
Beloved" (Eph 1:5-6).
Supernatural endowment
5. Man, male and female, shared from the beginning in this
supernatural gift. This bounty was granted in consideration of him,
who from eternity was beloved as Son, even though—according to the
dimensions of time and history—it had preceded the Incarnation of
this beloved Son and also the redemption which we have in him
through his blood (cf. Eph 1:7). The redemption was to become the
source of man's supernatural endowment after sin and, in a certain
sense, in spite of sin. This supernatural endowment, which took
place before original sin, that is, the grace of justice and
original innocence—an endowment which was the fruit of man's
election in Christ before the ages—was accomplished precisely in
reference to him, to the beloved One, while anticipating
chronologically his coming in the body. In the dimensions of the
mystery of creation the election to the dignity of adopted sonship
was proper only to the first Adam, that is, to the man created in
the image and likeness of God, male and female.
The subject of holiness
6. In what way is the reality of the sacrament, of the primordial
sacrament, verified in this context? In the analysis of the
beginning, from which we quoted a passage a short time ago, we said
that "the sacrament, as a visible sign, is constituted by man
inasmuch as he is a 'body,' through his visible masculinity and
femininity. The body, in fact, and only it, is capable of making
visible what is invisible: the spiritual and the divine. It was
created to transfer into the visible reality of the world the
mystery hidden from eternity in God, and thus to be its sign" (loc.
cit., p. 90).
This sign has besides an efficacy of its own, as I also said:
"Original innocence linked to the experience of the conjugal
significance of the body" has as its effect "that man feels himself,
in his body as male and female, the subject of holiness" (Ibid., p.
91). He feels himself such and he is such from the beginning. That
holiness which the Creator conferred originally on man pertains to
the reality of the "sacrament of creation." The words of Genesis
2:24, "A man...cleaves to his wife and they become one flesh,"
spoken in the context of this original reality in a theological
sense, constitute marriage as an integral part and, in a certain
sense, a central part of the "sacrament of creation." They
constitute—or perhaps rather they simply confirm—the character of
its origin. According to these words, marriage is a sacrament
inasmuch as it is an integral part and, I would say, the central
point of "the sacrament of creation." In this sense it is the
primordial sacrament.
7. The institution of marriage, according to the words of Genesis
2:24, expresses the beginning of the fundamental human community
which through the "procreative" power that is proper to it serves to
continue the work of creation. "Be fruitful and multiply" (Gn 1:28).
Not only this, it expresses at the same time the salvific initiative
of the Creator, corresponding to the eternal election of man, which
the Letter to the Ephesians speaks of. That salvific initiative
comes from God-Creator and its supernatural efficacy is identified
with the very act of man's creation in the state of original
innocence. In this state, already in the act of man's creation, his
eternal election in Christ fructified. In this way one must
recognize that the original sacrament of creation draws its efficacy
from the beloved Son (cf. Eph 1:6 where it speaks of the "grace
which he gave us in his beloved Son"). If then it treats of
marriage, one can deduce that—instituted in the context of the
sacrament of creation in its globality, that is, in the state of
original innocence—it should serve not only to prolong the work of
creation, that is, of procreation. But it should also serve to
extend to further generations of men the same sacrament of creation,
that is, the supernatural fruits of man's eternal election on the
part of the Father in the eternal Son—those fruits which man was
endowed with by God in the very act of creation.
The Letter to the Ephesians seems to authorize us to interpret
Genesis in this way, and the truth about the "beginning" of man and
of marriage contained therein.
Taken from: L'Osservatore Romano Weekly Edition in English 11
October 1982, page 1
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