Marriage

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Introduction to Marriage

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MARRIAGE
Man finds himself as man and woman; and he discovers a difference that is not
limited just to the composition of the body, but also forms and permeates his entire
spiritual experience. The fullness of what it means to be human stands out in the
polarity of the sexes that have equal worth. In a special form of *love, as it grows
between a man and a woman, the two discovers themselves as called a free
decision, to belong each other and to enter into a full life-association; this
community of life is also expressed in the sexual gift of the one to the other. Such as
life together is more basic and profound than all other forms of human *community.
Thus, the essence of marriage can be determined from theological considerations of
sexual differentiation with the possibilities and necessities it reveals for finding true
human values. From this point of view, marriage is the proper form of sexual
relationship which is prescribed for man prior to his free choices; such it has its own
ends and characteristics which are independent of man’s caprice.
With regard to the various ends of marriage, one of the first things to be
experienced is a special kind of competition and assistance, as is possible only a
loving community of life between a man and a woman and in which the sexual drive
is also finds its fulfillment and rest. By its very nature, however, married love pushes
beyond itself to the generation and education of children. Children are involved in
the primary purpose of marriage, if one understands by purpose in the strict sense
not the inner meaningfulness of an action but a goal to be attained by the use of
means and goal that surpasses the means used to reach it. In this sense, the
intimate loving community of spouses of its very nature makes sense even gives
adequate meaning to a marriage in which, because of special circumstances, there
is no hope of children. It is an offense against the moral order arbitrarily to limit the
number of children (without serious reason; e.g., only because of selfishness) and to
use means to achieve this that are not in accordance with human dignity. However,
this must be qualified by saying that the undisturbed course of biological necessity
as such does not necessity indicate a *natural law in the sense of the natural *moral
law.
The matrimonial community of life and bond is constituted by the marriage
contract. Because of social importance of marriage, this contract should be entered
in publicity before certain witnesses authorized by the component civil society
(sacramental marriage is authorized by the Church). In this contract the spouses
promise mutual love and fidelity that would be seriously violated by adultery. The
characteristics of marriage --- unity (monogamy, the opposite of polygamy) and
indissolubility (which is opposed to divorce with the possibility of remarriage) --- flow
from the full meaning of the loving gift of self which can seize a person with such
intensity that, as the personal affirmation of another “thou”, it can only be
completely realized with regard to one person. These characteristics also flow from
the responsibility of spouses to the children that may proceed from this union. For,
children have a claim to a healthy family environment and to the love of both

parents. Even though the moral awareness of the absolute demand for the unity
and indissolubility of marriage is lacking in many cultures, still marriage did not
develop slowly from an original state of universal promiscuity.
In spite of the great, importance of marriage for the personal development of a man
and a woman, it is not absolutely necessary for each individual. For, the free
renunciation of marriage by those who are of marriageable age (virginity, celibacy)
assumed because of religious motives, can open up for the one who is called to it
almost unlimited possibilities of growing in the love of God and of one’s fellow men.
Philosophical Dictionary (Walter Brugger – Kenneth
Baker)

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