! It is an exciting time for baseball fans in Canada, that is, of course, if you are a Blue Jays fan! With their stellar performance this season and their imminent advancement to the playoffs for the first time in more than two decades, our nationʼs favourite baseball team has plenty to win- or plenty to lose! In order to ensure more winning than losing, perhaps you have heard of the campaign promise of each of the three mainstream federal parties to ensure that the rules of baseball are favorably adjusted in our country to promote the likelihood of a Blue Jays World Series?!! Do you believe me? You shouldnʼt! Can you imagine the consequences of our government involving itself in the firmly established institution of professional baseball in North America? No one would tolerate such meddling, particularly if it was for the sake of allowing the rules of the game to be changed. I begin in this way to make an analogy.! There are some institutions in society which do not require the regulation of government because they pre-exist legislated governance. Major League Baseball isnʼt even one of those things, however, and yet, it is inconceivable that any government would ever attempt to insert itself into the operations of such an institution creating new policies or definitions. By extension, I wonder what could be said, then, of the contemporary treatment of marriage? 1
Marriage is a natural and pre-political institution. It is not created by law or the state, though governments rightly recognize it in law and protect and support it for the sake of the common good. Marriage serves as the fundamental building block of society, in that, from it is derived the family. There is, therefore, a need to protect the nature and goods of marriage in civil law. The problem arises when lawmakers take it upon themselves to move from beyond protecting something they have inherited to redefining it as if it has been theirs all along. It is no secret that the Catholic Church has remained one of the few religious traditions to uphold marriage as strictly and exclusively the indissoluble, lifelong union of one man and one woman. Various other forms of unions or friendships may abound, but marriage is peculiar. What I would like to briefly examine today is why the Church herself has an authoritative voice in articulating the nature of marriage while the state, government or popular cultural trends, do not. In our first reading we hear about the establishment of Godʼs primary institution: marriage. Intimately associated with creation was Godʼs plan to form a lasting bond between two of His creatures which would share uniquely in His life and power. In fact, we believe that God has established only two institutions: marriage and the Church; the former predating the 2
latter by however long human beings have lived. Therefore, marriage flows out of nature, not politics. Godʼs second institution, the Church, finds herself directly related to marriage after the coming of Christ. This is for two reasons. The first is found in todayʼs gospel where the Lord definitively enunciates Godʼs plan for marriage by hearkening back to its beginnings and affirming its indissolubility. The second reason is far more mystical so we shall begin by examining that. The Church herself is the fruit of a marriage with the Lord Jesus Christ. In the story from Genesis we are told that God caused man to sleep; opened his side; took a rib and fashioned from it, woman. So, too, as our Lord slept the sleep of death on the Cross, His side was opened by the pierce of the lance and from the blood and water which flowed out, God also fashioned a bride, the Church; born from the waters of baptism and saved through the blood of the Eucharist. Later, St. Paul would go on at length describing the marital union between Christ and His Church, a union which is meant to be reflected and symbolized by the Christian marriages of men and women to this very day. In Christʼs solemn declaration of the sanctity of marriage which we heard in todayʼs gospel, we witness His will to raise it to the dignity of a sacrament. Similarly, in the Churchʼs solemn declaration of the nature of 3
marriage, in the name of her Spouse, she protects what He has established- or properly speaking- reaffirmed. When the Church speaks publicly about a true vision of marriage, she does not speak as an antiquated institution lost in the darkness of the middle-ages; she speaks as the Bride of Christ, as one intimately bound up in the perfection of what marriage signifies. Given her irrevocable stand on the impossibility of divorce and remarriage, the intrinsic disorder of artificial contraception or the non-existence of same-sex marriage, she has been the object of scorn and ridicule by contemporary culture. This is neither because she is stubborn nor ignorant but because it is the Truth. In these days where the whole world wants the Church to cave in on her understanding of marriage- and sadly, even members of the faithful or the Churchʼs hierarchy want likewise- it is our duty to uphold what Christ has left us. We cannot posit the teachings of the Church as somehow opposed to the teachings of Christ. If husband and wife are equals, then Christʼs wife, the Church, should be regarded as equally authoritative in her teachings. Recognition of this fact, and faithful adherence to it, is one step towards fostering a true and healthy vision of marriage in our terribly confused culture. 4
This morning, bishops and cardinals from around the world begin three weeks of meetings with the Holy Father to address questions pertaining to marriage and family in our modern context. We must pray for their deliberations to be guided by the voice of the Holy Spirit. Next weekend, in the middle of the Synod, the discussion will pause when Pope Francis raises to our altars two new saints: Louis and Zélie Martin. They will be the first married couple in the history of our church to be canonized together. Until now, they have been better known as the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Next Sunday, they will be known as the saints which their married love made of each other. Theirʼs is the witness of the power of marriage; theirʼs is the proof that our Holy Mother, the Church, teaches truth. 5