The faith of our fathers - Carmel Apologetics

"""464 THE .FAITH OF OUR FATHERS.MATRIMONY isCHAPTER XXXI.MATRIMONY.not only a natural contract between husband and wife, but it has been elevatedfor Christians, by Jesus Christ, to the dignity of a sacrament :Husbands," says the Apostle, love yourwives, as Christ also loved the Church and deliveredHimself up for it, .... so also ought men to lovetheir wives as their own bodies For this causeshall a man leave his father and mother, and shalladhere to his wife, and they shall be two in one flesh.This is a great sacrament : but I speak in Christ andlin the Church.In these words the Apostle declares that the unionof Christ with His Church is the type or model ofthe bond subsisting between man and wife. Nowthe union between Christ and His Church issupernatural and sealed by divine grace. Hence, also,is the fellowship of a Christian husband and wifecemented by the grace of God. The wedded coupleare bound to love one another during their wholelives, as Christ has loved His Church, and to discharge the virtues proper to the marriage state. Inorder to fulfil these duties, special graces of ourSaviour are required.The Fathers and Councils and Liturgies^hes.v. 25-32.of the