The Blessing of Matrimony

  Let’s look at the loftiest teachings of Casti Connubii as most worthy of careful analysis. Slowly and gradually, the value of this “investment” will surely become attractive to others and be given a solid “buy” rating.

First and foremost, Pius XI teaches that matrimony was not instituted or restored by man but by God; not by man were the laws made to strengthen and confirm and elevate it but by God, the Author of nature, and by Christ Our Lord by Whom nature was redeemed, and hence these laws cannot be subject to any human decrees or to any contrary pact even of the spouses themselves. (CC 5)

Christian parents must understand that they are destined not only to propagate and preserve the human race on earth, indeed not only to educate any kind of worshippers of the true God, but children who are to become members of the Church of Christ, to raise up fellow-citizens of the Saints, and members of God’s household, that the worshippers of God and Our Savior may daily increase. (CC 13)

The second blessing of matrimony, “conjugal honor,” consists in the mutual fidelity of the spouses in fulfilling the marriage contract, so that what belongs to one of the parties by reason of this contract sanctioned by divine law, may not be denied to him or permitted to any third person; nor may there be conceded to one of the parties anything which, being contrary to the rights and laws of God and entirely opposed to matrimonial faith, can never be conceded. (CC 19) 

Pius XI sets a very high bar here, enjoining couples to avoid absolutely anything and everything that compromises this honor. In a world saturated with pornography and an increasing tolerance for adultery, Pius XI reminds us that the Lord “forbade also even willful thoughts and desires of such like things

Finally, the “accumulation of benefits” that flow from marriage is completed and, as it were, crowned by that blessing of Christian marriage which in the words of St. Augustine we have called the sacrament, by which is denoted both the indissolubility of the bond and the raising and hallowing of the contract by Christ Himself, whereby He made it an efficacious sign of grace. (CC 31) 

The potential effectiveness of this sign, not only to the married couple and the Church but to the culture at large, hardly needs to be argued. As any successfully married couple can tell you, the return on the sacramental investment is literally infinite.

It’s Time to Double Down on <i>Casti Connubii</i> https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/its-time-to-double-down-on-casti-connubii?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=novashare