"Marriage is a golden chain." - St. John Chrysostom
Our
ears at first shudder to hear the oldest institution of men referred to
as a chain, but upon closer reflection, there is a certain beauty to
it.
Marriage is the oldest and most natural institution.
Even Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who said that society was formed of
man-conceived institutions was forced to concede the family was the
exception to this. Even amongst the animals, we can find a similarity to
marriage. Of course, there are only a select few that are monogamous,
the majority need to seek out a mate and form a sort of family.
As
we ascend to the top of the physical and spiritual hierarchy, we also
encounter this concept of family - the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a
family of love. But at the top of the hierarchy, we also encounter
marriage. Jesus refers to Heaven as a wedding feast (Matthew 22, Luke
14). The Liturgy is referred to as, "the wedding feast of the Lamb (Rev.
19:9)." How interesting that at the beginning of the Scriptures in
Genesis and at the end in Revelation, we are shown a marriage. In
Genesis 2:23-24, we are shown a marriage between man and woman; in
Revelation 19:9, the Blessed are married to God.
Even
throughout the Scriptures, marriage is constantly brought before us: the
marriage laws of Leviticus, the Song of Songs, the prophetic utterances
of Hosea, Jesus' speaking on divorce and marriage in the Kingdom, Paul
in Corinthians and Ephesians, and many more. Jesus performed His first
miracle at a wedding, raising it to the dignity of a Sacrament.
It
is for another place and time to discuss why marriage is such a big
deal in society, though much of the answer should be obvious. The point
here is why it is such a big deal in the Scriptures and in the Easter
Season.
It's such a big deal, because it is the beginning and end of our lives!
Marriage
as a Sacrament is for the procreation and mutual sanctification of the
spouses. While it is possible to procreate outside of the Sacrament, and
any child born of this would still be a very good and marvelous work,
it is impossible to sanctify one another in this way.
We
are born because of one of the points of marriage. We are created for
union with God. Marriage between men and women mirrors marriage between
Christ and His Church, which is fulfilled in the Marriage of mankind to
God in the Beatific Vision.
These are the two things we
celebrate in the Easter Season. We celebrate the new birth of the
Neophytes. We also celebrate our own sanctification and salvation
through the Paschal Mystery. Marriage mirrors both of these things and
makes them possible by providing children for the Church and raising
them in the Catholic faith.
As I said before, it is
possible to do both of these things outside of marriage, but there is
something incomplete, just as there is something incomplete in
contemplating Christ without the Church, the difference of course being
that the Church is not, without Christ.
Marriage, then, is
a golden chain, not because it is a prison, but because it connects one
to both one's beloved and to God. As the chain of a necklace is one by
both ends connecting and may thus display the beauty of the pendant, so
men and women are made one through the Sacrament of Marriage and display
the beauty of God.
Let us then rejoice in the Risen
Christ and His Church. Let us rejoice in our marriage to Him through the
Church. And let us rejoice in the beauty of married love, which can
give us a visible image of the Love of God.
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