Sacraments of Commitment: Marriage and Holy Order

          “Let everything be done to advance God’s honor” (Johnson, 292, quoting Ignatius of Antioch), appropriately seems to reference not only the marriage ceremony, but also the couple’s actions throughout their married life. The covenantal commitment to such an intimate friendship paves the journey for each partner to have many opportunities to grow in the maturity that salves the sharing and self-giving required for such an enduring unique friendship (Cooke and Maye, 60-66). The transformation of a spouse through the loving self-giving to the other is said to be “the usual way people are saved” (66). In the midst of heart wrenching times in family life, I am sure many at times do not know who is doing the saving and who is being saved. The “link between Christian marriage and the mystery of Jesus’s act of salvation” is a tough analogy because as Dorothy Day recognized, she chose to live among the poor and accepted the consequences; blessed be the poor who did not so choose their conditions (61, referencing the theology of the Pauline epistles). It is a wonderful and awe inspiring testament of the new couple of hope and faith in the divine care and grace of the Spirit to witness a Catholic wedding buoyed by the shared joy and promise of support of those in attendance. Marriage is another event that calls for a leap of faith. Like other friendships, the relationship in marriage may only lead to personal, salvific growth when experienced, not explained. It is in becoming aware of one’s motive before responding to the other that helps discern whether one is acting “out of real love …to act like the God that was revealed in Jesus (62). It takes more than grit at times; it does take the dying of self to the other. This asks what is not available to many people.  It is no wonder many Catholics leave the Church when the dissolution of their marriage is not recognized and communion is not allowed to those who remarry after a divorce. It leaves a hole in so many lives and in the Catholic Church; should the Eucharist be offered to heal and restore the members of the Church and to the Church?