No Longer Two
A Commentary on the Encyclical Casti Connubii of Pius XI (1955)
Walter J. Handren, S.J. PART I The Nature and Dignity of Christian Marriage
CHAPTER 4 Cooperation with God (9)
A. The High Dignity of the Married
B. Man Participates in Creation
C. Failure Betrays God’s Trust
ENCYCLICAL
9. Therefore, the sacred partnership of true marriage is constituted both by the will of God and the will of man. From God comes the very institution of marriage, the ends for which it was instituted, the laws that govern it, the blessings that flow from it; while man, through generous surrender of his own person made to another for the whole span of life, becomes, with the help and cooperation of God, the author of each particular marriage, with the duties and blessings annexed thereto from divine institute.
Read more: True marriage No Longer Two
COMMENTARY
A. The High Dignity of the Married
The married have, indeed, a very high dignity because of the fact that they are asked to work in such close harmony with God. They are to remember that marriage is not solely a personal adventure shared by the husband and wife but a partnership which includes God as a third Member, for the lasting benefit of the human race.
This attitude expected of the Christian spouses certainly demands of them a great forgetfulness of self. It is based upon love, which is an unselfish going out to another, and which must also include the love of God. Its first purpose is children; this means that the spouses enter it with the intention of subordinating themselves to the temporal and eternal welfare of their offspring. This seems to be a necessary accompaniment to cooperation with God. As God does everything with the good of others in mind, so must the spouses do everything with the good of others in mind.
B. Man Participates in Creation
Men think of creation as a wonderful work of God and stand in awe and admiration of it. It does not occur to them that creation is a continuing process and that they are called upon to participate in it. The procreation and education of children is cooperation with God in the continued creation of the human race. Men and women take care of the material aspects, while God, working right along with them, provides the spiritual part of the human composite. The three together, God, husband, and wife, keep the human race in existence.
When God creates, He produces a finite reflection of some facet of His infinite existence. When a man and woman cooperate with God in the procreation of a human being, they are, as it were, assisting in the production of a finite image of God in the world. Man in his act of procreation resembles the Trinity because the Trinity is an infinite and eternal generation and procession.
God’s idea of the human being that He creates, and man procreates, is a perfect one. But, when the human being is first born, it is only started on its way to the fulfillment of the sublime perfection of the idea God has of it. The duty of parents in cooperating with God does not cease at the birth of the child. It is continued in their attempt, by educating it, to bring it as close as possible to God’s infinitely perfect idea of it. Therefore, the parents, who by an act of love produce a likeness of God and of themselves, are raised to a tremendously high dignity—a dignity which demands their utmost efforts to fulfill it. Therefore, the greater the love of the parents for each other, the greater their love for their children, the nearer is their resemblance to the Trinity in Its infinite fruitfulness of love.
With this high dignity also go the many responsibilities which fall upon both parents.
When we speak of parents’ responsibilities, it should be remembered that they do not devolve entirely upon the mother. The father has his responsibilities, too, and he must not shirk them. It is not enough for him to provide the material means of support for the family. He also has the obligation to identify himself with the interests and activities of his child. If the full benefits of parental direction are to be reaped by the child, such direction should include that steadying and stabilizing influence which it is the father’s duty to exert.
C. Failure Betrays God’s Trust
The steward in the Gospel betrayed his master by misusing the possessions entrusted to his care. When a man sins, he fails God because as a servant he has rebelled against his master. He has become inordinately attached to these creatures given to him by God. Every sin committed by man is an inordinate use of creatures. When a man and woman marry, each becomes a creature given to the other by God for the other to use for God’s glory and the salvation of his soul.
Failing in marriage, therefore, means failing God. And this failure is the default not only of a servant but, as we have explained above, of a partner. When the spouses took their marriage vows, they gave their promise to God to work with Him until death. Christian honor demands that they do not go back on their word.The Catholic Tradition Newsletter
A weekly presentation of News, Information, Readings and Commentary for traditional Roman Catholics and Catholic Families remaining faithful to the teaching Magisterium as held by all faithful Catholics through the centuries.
Vol 17 Issue 35 Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier St. Joseph’s Catholic Church Las Vegas, NV.
August 31, 2024, Saint Raymond Nonnatus, opn!
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