What is Marriage?

Pope Francis recently promulgated his Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, or The Joy of Love, discussing marriage and family.  Amoris Laetitia stands as one element within a great tradition of Catholic thought on marriage and family, and must be read in light of that tradition.  The tradition of the Church has a very definite notion of what marriage is, an idea of marriage that is often not shared by secular culture.

In fact, many discussions in our culture today about marriage don’t even ask the question “What is marriage?”  When people advocate new norms for marriage that don’t accord with the collective wisdom of the past, the last question that is ever asked is, what is the fundamental nature of marriage?  What is marriage all about?  What is its purpose or goal?  So let’s ask that question: What is marriage?

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines marriage in this way:  "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."

Perhaps this is not the most romantic description of marriage you’ve ever read, but it does bring out certain essential elements worth noting:

·        Marriage is a covenant.  That is, marriage is a sacred oath that establishes a familial relationship between two people.  This is not a mere contract, or exchange of goods.  A covenant forms two people into one.

·        Marriage is a partnership of the whole of life.  In other words, unlike other bonds or forms of friendship, marriage has a kind of comprehensiveness to it.  All of life is shared.  Marriage is a comprehensive bond in that it includes the whole of the human person: it is a partnership of body, mind, soul, and all the realities that go along with human life.  Marriage is also a partnership of the whole of life in the temporal sense, that is, marriage is comprehensive in time.  Marriage is “until death do we part.”  This reflects the radically comprehensive gift of self that defines marriage.

·        Marriage is ordered to the good of the spouses.  The primary good we can will our spouse is their salvation!  But the good of the spouses includes all the dimensions of human life.

·        Marriage is ordered to the procreation and education of children.  Here our contemporary culture is more and more departing from this vision of marriage.  In a variety of ways, a wedge has been driven between marriage and children.  But the tradition of the Church clearly sees that (all things considered), marriage is for children, and (all things considered) the best place for a child to be raised is within the covenant of marriage.

·        Finally, for two baptized Christians, marriage takes on another reality: marriage is a sacrament.  A sacrament is an outward sign, instituted by Christ, to give grace.  Hence, marriage is an outward sign, willed by Jesus Himself, to give us grace.  If marriage is an outward sign, what is it a sign of?  As we shall see, marriage is an outward sign of Christ’s love for the Church.

Various attacks on the institution of marriage, or realities that weaken marriage all deform on or another of these aspects of the notion of marriage.  They imply different answers to the question, what is marriage?  Marriage is viewed as less than totally comprehensive; or not permanent; or divorced from procreation.  We shall see, however, that this vision of marriage upheld by the Catholic Church finds its grounding in creation itself, in the design of God, and in the redeeming work of Christ.  We will also see that this vision of marriage truly responds to the deepest longings of the human heart.