Just when I feel I am way out in left field something like this confirms for me that my faith in marriage as the ultimate destination, challenge, salvation and formidable provider of all good for society and persons, is not unfounded in reality.
LIVING IN THE ONE FLESH
Does anyone who is married think that they really did marry the "perfect" person ? Or that they were that "perfect" person ? I think we all know the answer: obviously, no one can ever be the "perfect" match for anyone else. Many Christian marriages are dying because people expected perfection on both sides . Perfection is not what Christ asks of married people . What is really key to a fantastic marriage is living in the "one flesh" that two people become in the Sacrament of Matrimony. But "one flesh" doesn't just refer to the physical body. Centuries ago, mind, body, and spirit were separated, and the body was thought by some to be dirty or evil. But Catholic theology sees the mind, body and spirit as a sacred unity. So you don't become one flesh with someone simply by having sex with them . When we give our body to another in sexual intercourse, it is a "real symbol for the giving of the whole person." That calls for deep personal commitment. This is why merely living together or having intercourse outside marriage is not good preparation for the vocation of marriage. When you marry as a Catholic, you are asking Jesus to form you into a new unity with your spouse - then to go beyond your unity to heal and feed the suffering in the world as part of Jesus' own vocation . Here is an image you may never have considered: The intimate union of husband and wife, the way you physically AND spiritually give yourself to each other in marriage, is modeled by the way Jesus gives us his own body in the Eucharist: " My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. By eating my flesh and drinking my blood you enter into me and I into you." Go in peace to love and serve our God!
Maybe I take it too far, but I feel called to proclaim that it takes the body mind and soul of Jesus to participate in a successful marriage. So to be like Jesus, as we are called, one should invest in marriage to cultivate all it's providence, after having succeeded in following Jesus as best as possible up to wherever one is now.
Does anyone who is married think that they really did marry the "perfect" person ? Or that they were that "perfect" person ? I think we all know the answer: obviously, no one can ever be the "perfect" match for anyone else. Many Christian marriages are dying because people expected perfection on both sides . Perfection is not what Christ asks of married people . What is really key to a fantastic marriage is living in the "one flesh" that two people become in the Sacrament of Matrimony. But "one flesh" doesn't just refer to the physical body. Centuries ago, mind, body, and spirit were separated, and the body was thought by some to be dirty or evil. But Catholic theology sees the mind, body and spirit as a sacred unity. So you don't become one flesh with someone simply by having sex with them . When we give our body to another in sexual intercourse, it is a "real symbol for the giving of the whole person." That calls for deep personal commitment. This is why merely living together or having intercourse outside marriage is not good preparation for the vocation of marriage. When you marry as a Catholic, you are asking Jesus to form you into a new unity with your spouse - then to go beyond your unity to heal and feed the suffering in the world as part of Jesus' own vocation . Here is an image you may never have considered: The intimate union of husband and wife, the way you physically AND spiritually give yourself to each other in marriage, is modeled by the way Jesus gives us his own body in the Eucharist: " My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. By eating my flesh and drinking my blood you enter into me and I into you." Go in peace to love and serve our God!
Maybe I take it too far, but I feel called to proclaim that it takes the body mind and soul of Jesus to participate in a successful marriage. So to be like Jesus, as we are called, one should invest in marriage to cultivate all it's providence, after having succeeded in following Jesus as best as possible up to wherever one is now.
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