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THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY
1601 "The matrimonial covenant, by which a
man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole
of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and
the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between
baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a
sacrament."84
I. MARRIAGE IN GOD'S PLAN
1602
Sacred Scripture begins with the creation of man and woman in the image
and likeness of God and concludes with a vision of "the wedding-feast
of the Lamb."85 Scripture speaks throughout of marriage and
its "mystery," its institution and the meaning God has given it, its
origin and its end, its various realizations throughout the history of
salvation, the difficulties arising from sin and its renewal "in the
Lord" in the New Covenant of Christ and the Church.86
Marriage in the order of creation
1603 "The
intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state
has been established by the Creator and endowed by him with its own
proper laws. . . . God himself is the author of marriage."87
The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman
as they came from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely
human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone
through the centuries in different cultures, social structures, and
spiritual attitudes. These differences should not cause us to forget
its common and permanent characteristics. Although the dignity of this
institution is not transparent everywhere with the same clarity,88
some sense of the greatness of the matrimonial union exists in all
cultures. "The well-being of the individual person and of both human
and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of
conjugal and family life."89
1604
God who created man out of love also calls him to love the fundamental
and innate vocation of every human being. For man is created in the
image and likeness of God who is himself love.90 Since God
created him man and woman, their mutual love becomes an image of the
absolute and unfailing love with which God loves man. It is good, very
good, in the Creator's eyes. And this love which God blesses is
intended to be fruitful and to be realized in the common work of
watching over creation: "And God blessed them, and God said to them:
'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.'"91
1605 Holy Scripture affirms that man and woman were created for one another: "It is not good that the man should be alone."92
The woman, "flesh of his flesh," his equal, his nearest in all things,
is given to him by God as a "helpmate"; she thus represents God from
whom comes our help.93 "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh."94
The Lord himself shows that this signifies an unbreakable union of
their two lives by recalling what the plan of the Creator had been "in
the beginning": "So they are no longer two, but one flesh."95
Marriage under the regime of sin
1606 Every man experiences evil around him and within himself.
This experience makes itself felt in the relationships between man and
woman. Their union has always been threatened by discord, a spirit of
domination, infidelity, jealousy, and conflicts that can escalate into
hatred and separation. This disorder can manifest itself more or less
acutely, and can be more or less overcome according to the
circumstances of cultures, eras, and individuals, but it does seem to
have a universal character.
1607 According to faith the disorder we notice so painfully does not stem from the nature of
man and woman, nor from the nature of their relations, but from sin. As
a break with God, the first sin had for its first consequence the
rupture of the original communion between man and woman. Their
relations were distorted by mutual recriminations;96 their mutual attraction, the Creator's own gift, changed into a relationship of domination and lust;97
and the beautiful vocation of man and woman to be fruitful, multiply,
and subdue the earth was burdened by the pain of childbirth and the
toil of work.98
1608
Nevertheless, the order of creation persists, though seriously
disturbed. To heal the wounds of sin, man and woman need the help of
the grace that God in his infinite mercy never refuses them.99 Without his help man and woman cannot achieve the union of their lives for which God created them "in the beginning."
Marriage under the pedagogy of the Law
1609 In his
mercy God has not forsaken sinful man. The punishments consequent upon
sin, "pain in childbearing" and toil "in the sweat of your brow,"100
also embody remedies that limit the damaging effects of sin. After the
fall, marriage helps to overcome self-absorption, egoism, pursuit of
one's own pleasure, and to open oneself to the other, to mutual aid and
to self-giving.
1610
Moral conscience concerning the unity and indissolubility of marriage
developed under the pedagogy of the old law. In the Old Testament the
polygamy of patriarchs and kings is not yet explicitly rejected.
Nevertheless, the law given to Moses aims at protecting the wife from
arbitrary domination by the husband, even though according to the
Lord's words it still carries traces of man's "hardness of heart" which
was the reason Moses permitted men to divorce their wives.101
1611
Seeing God's covenant with Israel in the image of exclusive and
faithful married love, the prophets prepared the Chosen People's
conscience for a deepened understanding of the unity and
indissolubility of marriage.102 The books of Ruth and Tobit bear
moving witness to an elevated sense of marriage and to the fidelity and
tenderness of spouses. Tradition has always seen in the Song of Solomon
a unique expression of human love, insofar as it is a reflection of
God's love - a love "strong as death" that "many waters cannot quench."103
Marriage in the Lord
1612 The
nuptial covenant between God and his people Israel had prepared the way
for the new and everlasting covenant in which the Son of God, by
becoming incarnate and giving his life, has united to himself in a
certain way all mankind saved by him, thus preparing for "the
wedding-feast of the Lamb."104
1613 On the threshold of his public life Jesus performs his first sign - at his mother's request - during a wedding feast.105
The Church attaches great importance to Jesus' presence at the wedding
at Cana. She sees in it the confirmation of the goodness of marriage
and the proclamation that thenceforth marriage will be an efficacious
sign of Christ's presence.
1614
In his preaching Jesus unequivocally taught the original meaning of the
union of man and woman as the Creator willed it from the beginning
permission given by Moses to divorce one's wife was a concession to the
hardness of hearts.106 The matrimonial union of man and
woman is indissoluble: God himself has determined it "what therefore
God has joined together, let no man put asunder."107
1615
This unequivocal insistence on the indissolubility of the marriage bond
may have left some perplexed and could seem to be a demand impossible
to realize. However, Jesus has not placed on spouses a burden
impossible to bear, or too heavy - heavier than the Law of Moses.108
By coming to restore the original order of creation disturbed by sin,
he himself gives the strength and grace to live marriage in the new
dimension of the Reign of God. It is by following Christ, renouncing
themselves, and taking up their crosses that spouses will be able to
"receive" the original meaning of marriage and live it with the help of
Christ.109 This grace of Christian marriage is a fruit of Christ's cross, the source of all Christian life.
1616 This is what the Apostle Paul makes
clear when he says: "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the
church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her," adding
at once: "'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and
be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one. This is a great
mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the Church."110
1617
The entire Christian life bears the mark of the spousal love of Christ
and the Church. Already Baptism, the entry into the People of God, is a
nuptial mystery; it is so to speak the nuptial bath.111
which precedes the wedding feast, the Eucharist. Christian marriage in
its turn becomes an efficacious sign, the sacrament of the covenant of
Christ and the Church. Since it signifies and communicates grace,
marriage between baptized persons is a true sacrament of the New
Covenant..112
Virginity for the sake of the Kingdom
1618 Christ is the center of all Christian life. The bond with him takes precedence over all other bonds, familial or social.113
From the very beginning of the Church there have been men and women who
have renounced the great good of marriage to follow the Lamb wherever
he goes, to be intent on the things of the Lord, to seek to please him,
and to go out to meet the Bridegroom who is coming.114 Christ himself has invited certain persons to follow him in this way of life, of which he remains the model:
"For there are eunuchs who have been so
from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men,
and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of
the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive
it."115
1619
Virginity for the sake of the kingdom of heaven is an unfolding of
baptismal grace, a powerful sign of the supremacy of the bond with
Christ and of the ardent expectation of his return, a sign which also
recalls that marriage is a reality of this present age which is passing
away.116
1620
Both the sacrament of Matrimony and virginity for the Kingdom of God
come from the Lord himself. It is he who gives them meaning and grants
them the grace which is indispensable for living them out in conformity
with his will.117 Esteem of virginity for the sake of the kingdom118 and the Christian understanding of marriage are inseparable, and they reinforce each other:
Whoever denigrates marriage also
diminishes the glory of virginity. Whoever praises it makes virginity
more admirable and resplendent. What appears good only in comparison
with evil would not be truly good. The most excellent good is something
even better than what is admitted to be good.119
II. THE CELEBRATION OF MARRIAGE
1621
In the Latin Rite the celebration of marriage between two Catholic
faithful normally takes place during Holy Mass, because of the
connection of all the sacraments with the Paschal mystery of Christ.120
In the Eucharist the memorial of the New Covenant is realized, the New
Covenant in which Christ has united himself for ever to the Church, his
beloved bride for whom he gave himself up.121 It is
therefore fitting that the spouses should seal their consent to give
themselves to each other through the offering of their own lives by
uniting it to the offering of Christ for his Church made present in the
Eucharistic sacrifice, and by receiving the Eucharist so that,
communicating in the same Body and the same Blood of Christ, they may
form but "one body" in Christ.122
1622
"Inasmuch as it is a sacramental action of sanctification, the
liturgical celebration of marriage . . . must be, per se, valid,
worthy, and fruitful."123 It is therefore appropriate for
the bride and groom to prepare themselves for the celebration of their
marriage by receiving the sacrament of penance.
1623 According to Latin tradition, the
spouses as ministers of Christ's grace mutually confer upon each other
the sacrament of Matrimony by expressing their consent before the
Church. In the tradition of the Eastern Churches, the priests (bishops
or presbyters) are witnesses to the mutual consent given by the spouses,124 but for the validity of the sacrament their blessing is also necessary.125
1624
The various liturgies abound in prayers of blessing and epiclesis
asking God's grace and blessing on the new couple, especially the
bride. In the epiclesis of this sacrament the spouses receive the Holy
Spirit as the communion of love of Christ and the Church.126
The Holy Spirit is the seal of their covenant, the ever available
source of their love and the strength to renew their fidelity.
III. MATRIMONIAL CONSENT
1625
The parties to a marriage covenant are a baptized man and woman, free
to contract marriage, who freely express their consent; "to be free"
means:
- not being under constraint;
- not impeded by any natural or ecclesiastical law.
1626 The Church holds the exchange of consent between the spouses to be the indispensable element that "makes the marriage."127 If consent is lacking there is no marriage.
1627 The consent consists in a "human act by
which the partners mutually give themselves to each other": "I take you
to be my wife" - "I take you to be my husband."128 This consent that binds the spouses to each other finds its fulfillment in the two "becoming one flesh."129
1628 The consent must be an act of the will of each of the contracting parties, free of coercion or grave external fear.130 No human power can substitute for this consent.131 If this freedom is lacking the marriage is invalid.
1629 For this reason (or
for other reasons that render the marriage null and void) the Church,
after an examination of the situation by the competent ecclesiastical
tribunal, can declare the nullity of a marriage, i.e., that the
marriage never existed.132 In this case the contracting parties are free to marry, provided the natural obligations of a previous union are discharged.133
1630 The priest (or deacon) who assists at
the celebration of a marriage receives the consent of the spouses in
the name of the Church and gives the blessing of the Church. The
presence of the Church's minister (and also of the witnesses) visibly
expresses the fact that marriage is an ecclesial reality.
1631
This is the reason why the Church normally requires that the faithful
contract marriage according to the ecclesiastical form. Several reasons
converge to explain this requirement:134
- Sacramental marriage is a liturgical act. It is therefore appropriate
that it should be celebrated in the public liturgy of the Church;
- Marriage introduces one into an ecclesial order, and creates rights
and duties in the Church between the spouses and towards their
children;
- Since marriage is a state of life in the Church, certainty about it is necessary (hence the obligation to have witnesses);
- The public character of the consent protects the "I do" once given and helps the spouses remain faithful to it.
1632
So that the "I do" of the spouses may be a free and responsible act and
so that the marriage covenant may have solid and lasting human and
Christian foundations, preparation for marriage is of prime importance.
The example and teaching given by parents and families remain the special form of this preparation.
The role of pastors and of the Christian community as the "family of
God" is indispensable for the transmission of the human and Christian
values of marriage and family,135
and much more so in our era when many young people experience broken
homes which no longer sufficiently assure this initiation:
It is imperative to give suitable and timely instruction to
young people, above all in the heart of their own families, about the
dignity of married love, its role and its exercise, so that, having
learned the value of chastity, they will be able at a suitable age to
engage in honorable courtship and enter upon a marriage of their own.136
Mixed marriages and disparity of cult
1633 In many countries the situation of a mixed marriage
(marriage between a Catholic and a baptized non-Catholic) often arises.
It requires particular attention on the part of couples and their
pastors. A case of marriage with disparity of cult (between a Catholic and a non-baptized person) requires even greater circumspection.
1634 Difference
of confession between the spouses does not constitute an insurmountable
obstacle for marriage, when they succeed in placing in common what they
have received from their respective communities, and learn from each
other the way in which each lives in fidelity to Christ. But the
difficulties of mixed marriages must not be underestimated. They arise
from the fact that the separation of Christians has not yet been
overcome. The spouses risk experiencing the tragedy of Christian
disunity even in the heart of their own home. Disparity of cult can
further aggravate these difficulties. Differences about faith and the
very notion of marriage, but also different religious mentalities, can
become sources of tension in marriage, especially as regards the
education of children. The temptation to religious indifference can
then arise.
1635 According to the law in force in the Latin Church, a mixed marriage needs for liceity the express permission of ecclesiastical authority.137 In case of disparity of cult an express dispensation from this impediment is required for the validity of the marriage.138
This permission or dispensation presupposes that both parties know and
do not exclude the essential ends and properties of marriage; and
furthermore that the Catholic party confirms the obligations, which
have been made known to the non-Catholic party, of preserving his or
her own faith and ensuring the baptism and education of the children in
the Catholic Church.139
1636 Through ecumenical dialogue Christian communities in many regions have been able to put into effect a common pastoral practice for mixed marriages.
Its task is to help such couples live out their particular situation in
the light of faith, overcome the tensions between the couple's
obligations to each other and towards their ecclesial communities, and
encourage the flowering of what is common to them in faith and respect
for what separates them.
1637 In marriages with
disparity of cult the Catholic spouse has a particular task: "For the
unbelieving husband is consecrated through his wife, and the
unbelieving wife is consecrated through her husband."140 It
is a great joy for the Christian spouse and for the Church if this
"consecration" should lead to the free conversion of the other spouse
to the Christian faith.141 Sincere married love, the humble
and patient practice of the family virtues, and perseverance in prayer
can prepare the non-believing spouse to accept the grace of conversion.
IV. THE EFFECTS OF THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY
1638 "From a valid marriage arises a bond between
the spouses which by its very nature is perpetual and exclusive;
furthermore, in a Christian marriage the spouses are strengthened and,
as it were, consecrated for the duties and the dignity of their state by a special sacrament."142
The marriage bond
1639 The consent by which the spouses mutually give and receive one another is sealed by God himself.143 From their covenant arises "an institution, confirmed by the divine law, . . . even in the eyes of society."144
The covenant between the spouses is integrated into God's covenant with
man: "Authentic married love is caught up into divine love."145
1640 Thus the marriage bond
has been established by God himself in such a way that a marriage
concluded and consummated between baptized persons can never be
dissolved. This bond, which results from the free human act of the
spouses and their consummation of the marriage, is a reality,
henceforth irrevocable, and gives rise to a covenant guaranteed by
God's fidelity. The Church does not have the power to contravene this
disposition of divine wisdom.146
The grace of the sacrament of Matrimony
1641 "By reason of their state in life and of their order, [Christian spouses] have their own special gifts in the People of God."147
This grace proper to the sacrament of Matrimony is intended to perfect
the couple's love and to strengthen their indissoluble unity. By this
grace they "help one another to attain holiness in their married life
and in welcoming and educating their children."148
1642 Christ is the source of this grace.
"Just as of old God encountered his people with a covenant of love and
fidelity, so our Savior, the spouse of the Church, now encounters
Christian spouses through the sacrament of Matrimony."149
Christ dwells with them, gives them the strength to take up their
crosses and so follow him, to rise again after they have fallen, to
forgive one another, to bear one another's burdens, to "be subject to
one another out of reverence for Christ,"150 and to love one
another with supernatural, tender, and fruitful love. In the joys of
their love and family life he gives them here on earth a foretaste of
the wedding feast of the Lamb:
How can I ever express the happiness of
a marriage joined by the Church, strengthened by an offering, sealed by
a blessing, announced by angels, and ratified by the Father? . . . How
wonderful the bond between two believers, now one in hope, one in
desire, one in discipline, one in the same service! They are both
children of one Father and servants of the same Master, undivided in
spirit and flesh, truly two in one flesh. Where the flesh is one, one
also is the spirit.151
V. THE GOODS AND REQUIREMENTS OF CONJUGAL LOVE
1643
"Conjugal love involves a totality, in which all the elements of the
person enter - appeal of the body and instinct, power of feeling and
affectivity, aspiration of the spirit and of will. It aims at a deeply
personal unity, a unity that, beyond union in one flesh, leads to
forming one heart and soul; it demands indissolubility and faithfulness in definitive mutual giving; and it is open to fertility.
In a word it is a question of the normal characteristics of all natural
conjugal love, but with a new significance which not only purifies and
strengthens them, but raises them to the extent of making them the
expression of specifically Christian values."152
The unity and indissolubility of marriage
1644 The love of the spouses requires, of its very nature, the
unity and indissolubility of the spouses' community of persons, which
embraces their entire life: "so they are no longer two, but one flesh."153
They "are called to grow continually in their communion through
day-to-day fidelity to their marriage promise of total mutual
self-giving."154 This human communion is confirmed,
purified, and completed by communion in Jesus Christ, given through the
sacrament of Matrimony. It is deepened by lives of the common faith and
by the Eucharist received together.
1645
"The unity of marriage, distinctly recognized by our Lord, is made
clear in the equal personal dignity which must be accorded to man and
wife in mutual and unreserved affection."155 Polygamy is contrary to conjugal love which is undivided and exclusive.156
* The fidelity of conjugal love
1646 By its very nature conjugal love requires the inviolable
fidelity of the spouses. This is the consequence of the gift of
themselves which they make to each other. Love seeks to be definitive;
it cannot be an arrangement "until further notice." The "intimate union
of marriage, as a mutual giving of two persons, and the good of the
children, demand total fidelity from the spouses and require an
unbreakable union between them."157
1647 The deepest reason is found in the
fidelity of God to his covenant, in that of Christ to his Church.
Through the sacrament of Matrimony the spouses are enabled to represent
this fidelity and witness to it. Through the sacrament, the
indissolubility of marriage receives a new and deeper meaning.
1648 It can seem difficult, even impossible,
to bind oneself for life to another human being. This makes it all the
more important to proclaim the Good News that God loves us with a
definitive and irrevocable love, that married couples share in this
love, that it supports and sustains them, and that by their own
faithfulness they can be witnesses to God's faithful love. Spouses who
with God's grace give this witness, often in very difficult conditions,
deserve the gratitude and support of the ecclesial community.158
1649 Yet
there are some situations in which living together becomes practically
impossible for a variety of reasons. In such cases the Church permits
the physical separation of the couple and their living apart.
The spouses do not cease to be husband and wife before God and so are
not free to contract a new union. In this difficult situation, the best
solution would be, if possible, reconciliation. The Christian community
is called to help these persons live out their situation in a Christian
manner and in fidelity to their marriage bond which remains
indissoluble.159
1650 Today there are numerous Catholics in many countries who have recourse to civil divorce and
contract new civil unions. In fidelity to the words of Jesus Christ -
"Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery
against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she
commits adultery"160 the Church maintains that a new union
cannot be recognized as valid, if the first marriage was. If the
divorced are remarried civilly, they find themselves in a situation
that objectively contravenes God's law. Consequently, they cannot
receive Eucharistic communion as long as this situation persists. For
the same reason, they cannot exercise certain ecclesial
responsibilities. Reconciliation through the sacrament of Penance can
be granted only to those who have repented for having violated the sign
of the covenant and of fidelity to Christ, and who are committed to
living in complete continence.
1651 Toward Christians
who live in this situation, and who often keep the faith and desire to
bring up their children in a Christian manner, priests and the whole
community must manifest an attentive solicitude, so that they do not
consider themselves separated from the Church, in whose life they can
and must participate as baptized persons:
They should be encouraged to listen to the Word of God, to
attend the Sacrifice of the Mass, to persevere in prayer, to contribute
to works of charity and to community efforts for justice, to bring up
their children in the Christian faith, to cultivate the spirit and
practice of penance and thus implore, day by day, God's grace.161
* The openness to fertility
1652 "By its
very nature the institution of marriage and married love is ordered to
the procreation and education of the offspring and it is in them that
it finds its crowning glory."162
Children are the supreme gift of
marriage and contribute greatly to the good of the parents themselves.
God himself said: "It is not good that man should be alone," and "from
the beginning [he] made them male and female"; wishing to associate
them in a special way in his own creative work, God blessed man and
woman with the words: "Be fruitful and multiply." Hence, true married
love and the whole structure of family life which results from it,
without diminishment of the other ends of marriage, are directed to
disposing the spouses to cooperate valiantly with the love of the
Creator and Savior, who through them will increase and enrich his
family from day to day.163
1653
The fruitfulness of conjugal love extends to the fruits of the moral,
spiritual, and supernatural life that parents hand on to their children
by education. Parents are the principal and first educators of their
children.164 In this sense the fundamental task of marriage and family is to be at the service of life.165
1654 Spouses to whom God has not granted
children can nevertheless have a conjugal life full of meaning, in both
human and Christian terms. Their marriage can radiate a fruitfulness of
charity, of hospitality, and of sacrifice.
VI. THE DOMESTIC CHURCH
1655
Christ chose to be born and grow up in the bosom of the holy family of
Joseph and Mary. The Church is nothing other than "the family of God."
From the beginning, the core of the Church was often constituted by
those who had become believers "together with all [their] household."166 When they were converted, they desired that "their whole household" should also be saved.167 These families who became believers were islands of Christian life in an unbelieving world.
1656
In our own time, in a world often alien and even hostile to faith,
believing families are of primary importance as centers of living,
radiant faith. For this reason the Second Vatican Council, using an
ancient expression, calls the family the Ecclesia domestica.168
It is in the bosom of the family that parents are "by word and example
. . . the first heralds of the faith with regard to their children.
They should encourage them in the vocation which is proper to each
child, fostering with special care any religious vocation."169
1657 It is here that the father of the family, the mother, children, and all members of the family exercise the priesthood of the baptized
in a privileged way "by the reception of the sacraments, prayer and
thanksgiving, the witness of a holy life, and self-denial and active
charity."170 Thus the home is the first school of Christian life and "a school for human enrichment."171
Here one learns endurance and the joy of work, fraternal love, generous
- even repeated - forgiveness, and above all divine worship in prayer
and the offering of one's life.
1658 We must also remember the great number of single persons
who, because of the particular circumstances in which they have to live
- often not of their choosing - are especially close to Jesus' heart
and therefore deserve the special affection and active solicitude of
the Church, especially of pastors. Many remain without a human family
often due to conditions of poverty. Some live their situation in the
spirit of the Beatitudes, serving God and neighbor in exemplary
fashion. The doors of homes, the "domestic churches," and of the great
family which is the Church must be open to all of them. "No one is
without a family in this world: the Church is a home and family for
everyone, especially those who 'labor and are heavy laden.'"172
IN BRIEF
1659 St. Paul said: "Husbands, love your
wives, as Christ loved the Church. . . . This is a great mystery, and I
mean in reference to Christ and the Church" (Eph 5:25, 32).
1660 The marriage covenant, by which a man
and a woman form with each other an intimate communion of life and
love, has been founded and endowed with its own special laws by the
Creator. By its very nature it is ordered to the good of the couple, as
well as to the generation and education of children. Christ the Lord
raised marriage between the baptized to the dignity of a sacrament (cf.
CIC, can. 1055 § 1; cf. GS 48 § 1).
1661 The sacrament of Matrimony signifies the
union of Christ and the Church. It gives spouses the grace to love each
other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church; the grace
of the sacrament thus perfects the human love of the spouses,
strengthens their indissoluble unity, and sanctifies them on the way to
eternal life (cf. Council of Trent: DS 1799).
1662 Marriage is based on the consent of the
contracting parties, that is, on their will to give themselves, each to
the other, mutually and definitively, in order to live a covenant of
faithful and fruitful love.
1663 Since marriage establishes the couple in
a public state of life in the Church, it is fitting that its
celebration be public, in the framework of a liturgical celebration,
before the priest (or a witness authorized by the Church), the
witnesses, and the assembly of the faithful.
1664 Unity, indissolubility, and openness to
fertility are essential to marriage. Polygamy is incompatible with the
unity of marriage; divorce separates what God has joined together; the
refusal of fertility turns married life away from its "supreme gift,"
the child (GS 50 § 1).
1665 The remarriage of persons divorced from
a living, lawful spouse contravenes the plan and law of God as taught
by Christ. They are not separated from the Church, but they cannot
receive Eucharistic communion. They will lead Christian lives
especially by educating their children in the faith.
1666 The Christian home is the place where
children receive the first proclamation of the faith. For this reason
the family home is rightly called "the domestic church," a community of
grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity.
84 CIC, can. 1055 § 1; cf. GS 48 § 1.
85 Rev 19:7, 9; cf. Gen 1:26-27.
86 1 Cor 7:39; cf. Eph 5:31-32.
87 GS 48 § 1.
88 Cf. GS 47 § 2.
89 GS 47 § 1.
90 Cf. Gen 1:27; 1 Jn 4:8, 16.
91 Gen 1:28; cf. 1:31.
92 Gen 2:18.
93 Cf. Gen 2:18-25.
94 Gen 2:24.
95 Mt 19:6.
96 Cf. Gen 3:12.
97 Cf. Gen 2:22; 3:16b.
98 Cf. Gen 1:28; 3:16-19.
99 Cf. Gen 3:21.
100 Gen 3:16, 19.
101 Cf. Mt 19:8; Deut 24:1.
102 Cf. Hos 1-3; Isa 54; 62; Jer 2-3; 31; Ezek 16; 23; Mal 2:13-17.
103 Song 8:6-7.
104 Rev 19:7,9; cf. GS 22.
105 Cf. Jn 2:1-11.
106 Cf. Mt 19:8.
107 Mt 19:6.
108 Cf. Mk 8:34; Mt 11:29-30.
109 Cf. Mt 19:11.
110 Eph 5:25-26,31-32; Cf. Gen 2:24.
111 Cf. Eph 5:26-27.
112 Cf. DS 1800; CIC, Can. 1055 § 2.
113 Cf. Lk 14:26; Mk 10:28-31.
114 Cf. Rev 14:4; 1 Cor 7:32; Mt 2:56.
115 Mt 19:12.
116 Cf. Mk 12:25; 1 Cor 7:31.
117 Cf. Mt 19:3-12.
118 Cf. LG 42; PC 12; OT 10.
119 St. John Chrysostom, De virg. 10,1:PG 48,540; Cf. John Paul II, FC 16.
120 Cf. SC 61.
121 Cf. LG 6.
122 Cf. 1 Cor 10:17.
123 FC 67.
124 Cf. CCEO, can. 817.
125 Cf. CCEO, can. 828.
126 Cf. Eph 5:32.
127 CIC, can. 1057 § 1.
128 GS 48 § 1; OCM 45; cf. CIC, can. 1057 § 2.
129 Gen 2:24; cf. Mt 10:8; Eph 5:31.
130 Cf. CIC, can. 1103.
131 Cf. CIC, can. 1057 § 1.
132 Cf. CIC, cann. 1095-1107.
133 Cf. CIC, can. 1071.
134 Cf. Council of Trent: DS 1813-1816; CIC, can. 1108.
135 Cf. CIC, can. 1063.
136 GS 49 § 3.
137 Cf. CIC, can. 1124.
138 Cf. CIC, can. 1086.
139 Cf. CIC, can. 1125.
140 1 Cor 7:14.
141 Cf. 1 Cor 7:16.
142 Cf. CIC, can. 1134.
143 Cf. Mk 10:9.
144 GS 48 § 1.
145 GS 48 § 2.
146 Cf. CIC, can. 1141.
147 LG 11 § 2.
148 LG 11 § 2; cf. LG 41.
149 GS 48 § 2.
150 Eph 5:21; cf. Gal 6:2.
151 Tertullian, Ad uxorem. 2,8,6-7:PL 1,1412-1413; cf. FC 13.
152 FC 13.
153 Mt 19:6; cf. Gen 2:24.
154 FC 19.
155 GS 49 § 2.
156 Cf. FC 19.
157 GS 48 § 1.
158 Cf. FC 20.
159 Cf. FC 83; CIC, cann. 1151-1155.
160 Mk 10:11-12.
161 FC 84.
162 GS 48 § 1; 50.
163 GS 50 § 1; cf. Gen 2:18; Mt 19:4; Gen 1:28.
164 Cf. GE 3.
165 Cf. FC 28.
166 Cf. Acts 18:8.
167 Cf. Acts 16:31; Acts 11:14.
168 LG 11; cf. FC 21.
169 LG 11.
170 LG 10.
171 GS 52 § 1.
172 FC 85; cf. Mt 11:28.
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