Home The Theology of the Body Resources Articles Essays Links Email
GENERAL AUDIENCE, 27 OCTOBER 1982
Thousands of the faithful were present in St Peter's Square for the
general audience on 27 October during which the Holy Father continued his
catechesis on marriage in light of the Letter to the Ephesians.
1. The text of the Letter to the Ephesians (5:21-33) speaks of the sacraments of
the Church—and
in particular of Baptism and the Eucharist—but
only in an indirect and, in a certain sense, allusive manner, developing
the analogy of marriage in reference to Christ and the Church. So we read at
first that Christ who "loved the Church and gave himself up for her"
(5:25), did so "that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the
washing of water with the word" (5:26). Doubtlessly this treats of the
sacrament of Baptism, which by Christ's institution was from the beginning
conferred on those who were converted. The words quoted show very graphically in
what way Baptism draws its essential significance and its sacramental power from
that spousal love of the Redeemer, by means of which the sacramentality of the
Church itself is constituted above all (sacramentum magnum). The same can
also be said perhaps of the Eucharist. This would seem to be indicated by the
following words about nourishing one's own body, which indeed every man
nourishes and cherishes "as Christ does the Church, because we are members
of his body" (5:29-30). In fact Christ nourishes the Church with his body
precisely in the Eucharist.
2. One sees, however, that neither in the first nor second case can we speak of
a well-developed sacramental theology. One cannot speak about it even when
treating of the sacrament of marriage as one of the sacraments of the Church.
Expressing the spousal relationship of Christ to the Church, the Letter to the
Ephesians lets it be understood that on the basis of this relationship the
Church itself is the "great sacrament." It is the new sign of the
covenant and of grace, which draws its roots from the depths of the sacrament of
redemption, just as from the depths of the sacrament of creation marriage has
emerged, a primordial sign of the covenant and of grace. The author of the
Letter to the Ephesians proclaims that that primordial sacrament is realized in
a new way in the sacrament of Christ and of the Church. For this reason also, in
the same classic text of the Letter to the Ephesians 5:21-33, the Apostle urges
spouses to be "subject to one another out of reverence for Christ"
(5:21) and model their conjugal life by basing it on the sacrament instituted at
the beginning by the Creator. This sacrament found its definitive greatness and
holiness in the spousal covenant of grace between Christ and the Church.
3. Even though the Letter to the Ephesians does not speak directly and
immediately of marriage as one of the sacraments of the Church, the
sacramentality of marriage is especially confirmed and closely examined
in it. In the great sacrament of Christ and of the Church, Christian spouses
are called upon to model their life and their vocation on the sacramental
foundation.
4. After the analysis of the classical text of Ephesians 5:21-33, addressed to
Christian spouses, Paul announces to them the great mystery (sacramentum
magnum) of the spousal love of Christ and of the Church. After the analysis
of this text, it is opportune to return to those significant words of the Gospel
which we have analyzed previously, seeing in them the key statements for the
theology of the body. Christ spoke these words, one might say, from the divine
depth of the redemption of the body (cf. Rom 8:23). All these words have a
fundamental significance for man inasmuch as he is a body—inasmuch
as he is male or female. They have a significance for marriage in which man and
woman unite so that the two become "one flesh," according to the
expression of Genesis (2:24). However, at the same time, Christ's words also
indicate the vocation to continence "for the sake of the kingdom of
heaven" (Mt 19:12).
5. In each of these ways the redemption of the body is a great expectation of
those who possess "the first fruits of the spirit" (Rom 8:23). Not
only that, it is also a permanent source of hope that creation will be "set
free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children
of God" (Rom 8:21). Spoken from the divine depth of the mystery of
redemption and of the redemption of the body, Christ's words bear within them
the leaven of this hope. They open to it a perspective both in the
eschatological dimension and also in the dimension of daily life. In fact, the
words addressed to his immediate hearers are simultaneously addressed to
historical man of various times and places. That man indeed who possesses
"the first fruits of the spirit...groans...waiting for the redemption...of
the body" (Rom 8:23). There is also concentrated in him the
"cosmic" hope of the whole of creation, which in him, in man,
"waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God" (Rom
8:19).
6. Christ speaks with the Pharisees, who ask him: "Is it lawful to divorce
one's wife for any cause?" (Mt 19:3) They question him in this way
precisely because the law attributed to Moses permitted the so-called "bill
of divorce" (Dt 24:1). Christ's reply was as follows: "Have you not
read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female, and
said, '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 no man put asunder" (Mt 19:2-6).
They then went on to speak about the "bill of divorce" and Christ said
to them: "For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your
wives, but from the beginning it was not so. And I say to you: Whoever divorces
his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery" (Mt
19:8-9). "He who marries a woman divorced from her husband, commits
adultery" (Lk 16:18).
7. The horizon of the redemption of the body is opened up with these words,
which constitute the reply to a concrete question of a juridical-moral nature.
It is opened up especially by the fact that Christ took his stand on the plane
of that primordial sacrament which his questioners inherited in a singular
manner, given that they also inherited the revelation of the mystery of
creation, contained in the first chapters of the Book of Genesis.
These words contain at the same time a universal reply addressed to historical
man of all times and places, since they are decisive for marriage and for its
indissolubility. In fact they refer to that which man is, male and female, such
as he has become in an irreversible way by the fact of having been created in
the image and likeness of God. Man does not cease to be such even after original
sin, even though this has deprived him of original innocence and justice. In
replying to the query of the Pharisees, Christ referred to the
"beginning." He seemed in this way to stress especially the fact that
he was speaking from the depth of the mystery of redemption, and of the
redemption of the body. In fact, Redemption signifies, as it were, a
"new creation." It signifies the assuming of all that is
created: to express in creation the fullness of justice, of equity and of
sanctity designated by God, and to express that fullness especially in man,
created as male and female in the image of God.
In the perspective of Christ's words to the Pharisees on that which marriage was
from the beginning, we reread also the classic text of the Letter to the
Ephesians (5:21-33) as a testimony of the sacramentality of marriage based on
the great mystery of Christ and of the Church.
Taken from: L'OSSERVATORE ROMANO - English Edition -- Reprinted with Permission -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana - The Holy See