A Living Sign – Members Content
It is no coincidence that Christ’s love can be expressed in sexual terms given:
- His desire to be one with us
- How passionately he pursues us
- How he gives his body and allows us to take him inside us
- He is always fully present and responsive to our needs
- He intimately knows us
- His love is permanent and unconditional
- His love heals, affirms and gives life
Papal letters and holy scripture can seem like lofty words and inspiring ideals until we see them fleshed out in the lived experience of loving men and women. St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians asks men to “love your wives as you love you own body.” This is motivation for each husband to be as aware of and involved with his wife as he is of himself, intentionally conscious of her emotions and willing to share his heart and soul with her.
St Paul also points to “respect” as a key for wives. Respect makes us open to learn from each other and to receive each other’s love. This is a call to avoid superiority and criticism which, like a cancer, destroys the tender, sexual atmosphere between a husband and a wife. Affirmation is like the “washing with words” of which St Paul speaks, and it can have a dramatic and life-giving effect.
When we hear St Pope John Paul II say, “Couples are a permanent reminder to the Church of what happened on the Cross” (Familiaris Consortio), we can immediately think of sacrifice and of the realities of the Cross and of the Eucharist. As couples give their bodies to each other totally, permanently and fruitfully, they embody a vision of passionate, other-centred love that is a complete “yes” to each other and to God.
“By virtue of the sacramentality of their marriage, spouses are bound to each other in the most profoundly indissoluble manner. Their belonging to each other is the real representation… of the very relationship of Christ with the Church.”
Familiaris Consortio, n13.
Stories of the Heart
We have a crucifix in our bedroom above our bed. I am very aware of the words, ‘This is my Body given for You’ as I give myself totally to my husband and accept him completely. We put this crucifix there very intentionally to remind us of the link between Christ’s gift to us on the cross, and our gift to each other. I often feel God’s presence as if he is sending me to my husband to communicate all of his passionate and urgent love. I know it may sound strange to hear, but sometimes I pray while we make love, because I want God to help me bring my husband his joy, and because I know that God is love.
Concept: Sacrament
Matrimony is more than a private relationship.
It is a Sacrament: A living sign of God’s love.
Marriage in Scripture
Give way to one another in obedience to Christ. …as the Church submits to Christ, so should wives to their husbands, in everything.
Husbands should love their wives, just as Christ loved the Church…
‘For this reason, a man must leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one body.’
This mystery has many implications, but I am saying it applies to Christ and the Church.
Ephesians 5:21, 4-25,31-32
