Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00 We've been talking about marriage and you don't need me to tell you that marriage is under attack. We should each be very heedful of living the message of our lady of Fatima, and we now have the decriminalization and state recognition of polygamy that's lurking right around the bend with it that we're only in exaggeration. There's at least one very well known American organization, which officially supports challenges to polygamy laws. Their website has an article entitled UDAs Bigamy Statute and the right to privacy and religious freedom in which they state quote by criminalizing private consensual adult relationships that are motivated by sincerely held religious beliefs. We fail to live up to the constitutional promise that consenting adults be free to maintain and define their personal relationships without fear of government interference. Close quote. Okay. Father, what organization is this? Which actually officially supports challenges to polygamy laws?
Speaker 0 01:03 Well, I took that off Utah website of the ACL. You of course, everyone here. As for familiar with the situation in California. 2008 voters in California admitted their state constitution by approving pop position eight the California Marriage Protection Act, but this past August, this amendment was declared to be unconstitutional in ruling so insane and immoral that I can't even discuss it from the pulpit. In response to this ruling, Dr. Albert Mohler, who is the president of the Southern Baptist theological seminary made some excellent and very pointed remarks and stated that quote marriage has been essentially redefined right before our eyes closed quote, but with all due respect to Dr Molar, he's completely wrong. He's wrong. The essential redefinition of marriage in the West occurred some 500 years ago. It's at the very foundation of the Protestant revolt. A trawl was this whole issue with Henry the eighth why did he break away from the church and Terrell, England with him and started his own religion, placing it under the control of the state?
Speaker 0 02:27 Was it not so that he could essentially redefine the meaning of marriage right before the astonished eyes of the whole Catholic world? His redefinition of marriage is so well known. That will pass over his story and turn our attention to the continent. We're swarming with all those renegade monks and priests who had broken their valves and taken up with renegade nuns and other loose women. For example, Father Luther and sister Kathryn, his concubine who somehow been popular, the as his wife. Luther is such an important figure in this regard. It's worth taking a moment to consider some of his teaching regarding marriage. The renegade friars adamant, he's absolutely adamant that marriage should be regulated not by the church, but rather by the state. Marriage should be put under the control of the state. Martin Luther quote, marriage is as civic matter as really not together with all its circumstances.
Speaker 0 03:30 The business of the church is only so in a matter of conscious is evolved marriages outside the church as a civil matter and therefore should belong to the government. I feel it. Judgements about marriages belonged to the jurists since they make judgments concerning fathers, mothers, children, and servants. Why shouldn't they also make decisions about the life of married people? I advise my dear brothers, the pastors and clergy to refuse to deal with marriage matters as worldly affairs covered by temporal laws and to divest themselves of them as much as they can. Let the authorities and the officials deal with them except where their pastoral advice is needed. Matters of conscience, close quotes. Father Martin Luther judgments about marriage, blonde to jurists. Marriage is a civic matter. It is not really the business of the church and should belong to the government. Judgments about marriage belong to tourists. Well aren't these the very precise operating principles behind the divorce catastrophe and these new forms of marriage and are whacked out society.
Speaker 0 04:48 At the very dawn of the cross and revolt, we see a radical changing the definition of marriage, not just in the personal life of the revolutionaries, but the level of principles themselves. And this is Orenda says, it may sound the ACL you their support for polygamy is not original either. Quote. On September 3rd, 1531 Luther delivered an opinion in which he openly and candidly pronounced the marriage of King Henry the eighth to Catherine of Aragon to be indissoluble, but pointed out that with the permission of the Queen, Henry might quote Marian Additional Queen and conformed with example of the ancients who had many wives. Close quote blank Thun. Now if in case somebody doesn't know who filled in the act on is, he's one of the leaders of the of the Lutheran movement. He a along with Luther, he's considered one of the fathers of Lutheranism. Lengthen also declared quote the king, may with a good conscience.
Speaker 0 05:48 Take a second wife while retaining the first close quote Lutheran lengthen. Both stated in writing that Henry could practice polygamy. As we know Henry the eighth who didn't take their advice. He decided to do it in a more serial fashion, but a few years later, another famous ruler of the time did take this advice on December 9th, 1539 Martin booster visited Luther. Now in case somebody doesn't know who Martin booster is, he's a renegade Dominican friar who had taken up with a former nun and he was sort of an ecumenical diplomat between the various revolutionary factions and Protestantism. Later on, he was involved with Cranmer in in making the book of common prayer. Anyway, <inaudible> presented Luther with request from the land grave Philip of Pasa. What's a land grave story about all these funny words? Land grave as a particular type of German count that runs a great rule as a great big area in this case, Pesa.
Speaker 0 06:47 Okay. Philip has stated that he'd been living in the immoral life and instead of continuing to run with loose women as a point of conscience, he needed to take another life and so he wanted the permission of Lutheran lengthen so that his second wife would quote, be not regarded as a dishonorable person. Close quote. It's pretty big demand on December 12 these guys, so Lutheran will act and get presented with this thing on December 9th they give it all the attention that it deserved. On December 10th the next day they gave the written reply. They state that the second marriage is not contrary to the law of God and it Philip May enter into it because it was necessity of conscience. They demand that the new marriage as well as this written document should remain secret in order to void. Scandal didn't work by the way. The document was delivered to Philip who had six other Protestant ministers sign it on March 4th, 1540 the chapel of the, of the castle of Rotenberg in the presence of witnesses including boosts from lengthen, the so called marriage was som NYSED.
Speaker 0 07:52 They're even more crazy details dealing with insane attempts to cover up what had happened once the news broke and other examples of this kind of marital advice from Luther, but we don't have time to get into all that today. The point is that right at the root, prostate ism is a system. Now, we're certainly not talking about the average Protestant and couple this didn't impact them, so it doesn't have anything to do with those people, but as a system, at the level of principles from the very beginning, Protestantism has redefined marriage. This is one of the foundational errors. It's obvious from the case of Henry the eighth at divorce, at least at some level, has been permitted from the very beginning and we've seen that polygamy was both proposed and permitted, at least at some level by the very founders of the system. Marriage was clearly pre-call claim to be a civil matter belonging to the government and judgments were to left the jurists and the logical consequences of this Protestant redefinition of marriage had been slowly worked out and they're now bearing the rotten fruit right before our very eyes.
Speaker 0 09:03 So in the midst of this present social chaos, this complete marital meltdown which surrounds us, it's essential for each one of us here to have a very clear idea of what marriage actually is, to have a correct understanding of marriage. Luther claimed that marriage is a civic matter. It's not the business, the church, we should belong to the government and that certainly seems to be the popular conception or I should say misperception in our society today. Let's just deal with that where once and for all with the words of the Great Pope Pius the 11th and isn't cyclical on Christian marriage, let it be repeated as an immutable and in viable fundamental doctrine that marriage was not instituted by man, but by God the laws may distract and confirm an elevator were not made by man but by God and therefore these laws cannot be subject to any human decrees or to any contrary agreement even of the spouses themselves.
Speaker 0 10:06 This is the doctrine of holy scripture. This is the constant tradition of the universal church. This is a psalm definition of the Sacred Council of Trent. Close quote, the vicar of Christ marriage and the laws of marriage cannot be subject to any human decrees or to any contrary agreement even of the spouses themselves. That doctrine relates directly to the marriage contract, which we're going to spend a few minutes looking at today. Remember that we've seen that marriage is a contract that results in a relationship. We've seen that the contract is made by a man and woman and that the relationship is created by God, a real lifelong relationship between them. So the doctrine stated by the pope that marriage and the laws of marriage cannot be subject to any human decrees or any contrary agreement even of the spouses themselves. That doctrine applies to the marriage contract as well. Hawaii's redemptorist priest coined decades ago, quote, the most important feature of the contract of marriage is the fact that its terms are laid down not by the freewill of human beings, but by the authority and command of God.
Speaker 0 11:25 Why is this? Why cannot an individual decide for himself or herself to what he will bind himself in marriage? Simply because marriage has a necessary purpose to fulfill in human society under the plan of God that cannot be fulfilled except under certain unchangeable terms and rules. God has established the purpose once and for all and God has determined the rules by which the purpose to be attained. No human being is free either to change the purpose or the essential rules. Call is quote, marriage has a necessary purpose to fulfill in human society under the plan of God that cannot be fulfilled except under certain unchangeable terms and rules. God has established a purpose once and for all and God has determined the rules by which the purpose is to be attained. No human being is free to change either the purpose or the central rules.
Speaker 0 12:26 Okay, so what exactly is the necessary purpose of marriage as established by God? God created marriage as a lifelong union of a man and woman for two specific purposes. Primary purpose, a secondary purpose. The primary purpose of marriage is it procreation and education of children. Primary purpose of marriage, the procreation, education of children. The secondary purpose of marriage has two aspects, mutual help and a remedy. Take a quick look at each of those first mutual help and comfort. God intends that man and wife help each other, not simply in household chores and in raising the children, but especially by mutual love and care for each other. Second, the remedy since the fall marriage is also remedy for concupiscence. Not concupiscence is one of these $3 words that refers to the appetite, which tends towards the gratification of our senses. That's what can Cuban senses this appetite that tends towards the gratification of our senses.
Speaker 0 13:35 All that means is that one of the purposes of marriage is the legitimate quieting of the passions, but even that has to be understood in a Catholic sense. It actually means a lot more than just calming down a passion. Why? Because the legitimate quieting passions which God has blessed and placed within the boundaries of marriage is not simply concerned with the passions. It's also meant to express the love and intensify the union of the two personalities of the man and wife. Okay, civil, legitimate, quiet, and the passions within the boundaries of marriage is not simply concerned with the passions. It's also meant to express the love and intensify the union between the man and the wife. That union between their two personalities in this relationship called marriage. So God created marriage with two specific purposes. The first purpose, the primary purpose of marriage is the procreation education of children.
Speaker 0 14:30 The secondary purpose of marriage is mutual help. And Comfort are the spouses and the remedy for concupiscence. Okay, so we've considered the purpose of marriage. Let's turn to the marriage contract. <inaudible> comments on the marriage contract quote reason by itself, we'll never be able to overcome the emotional objections and obstacles to carry out God's will that are made powerful by the effects of original sin. For that reason, the married and the about to be married must look upon their marriage contract as part of their commitment and surrender to Christ as their god, their redeemer, their only hope of salvation and happiness. They must be mindful that to baptism, they were even born as children of God. They must look upon, carry out Christ's will in marriage, not as merely observing external legal formulas, but as this Joyce fulfillment of a commitment they've made to Christ for time and for eternity.
Speaker 0 15:33 They must accept any hardships that arise from the contract of marriage as a small price to pay for the new life, the divine life, the everlasting life to which they've been elevated by Jesus Christ. Close quote, the married and the about to be married must look upon their marriage contract as part of their commitment and surrender to Christ as their god, their redeemer, their only hope of salvation and happiness to make sept any. They must accept any hardships that arise from their contract and marriage as a small price to pay for the new life, the divine life, the everlasting life to which they've been elevated by Jesus Christ. There are five major areas of concern covered by the marriage contract. There are physical terms, spiritual terms, temporal terms, educational terms, and in dissoluble terms. We already looked at the indissoluble terms when we saw that a marriage which is ratified and concentrated.
Speaker 0 16:37 Remember that ratified means that the vowels have been valve leaks changed and consummated means at the marital act has taken place. Sometime after the exchange of us. We saw that a marriage which is ratified and consummated cannot be dissolved by any human power or by any cause other than death. That's the indissoluble terms. We've already considered those today. We'll summarize the physical terms of the marriage contract. This aspect is easy to understand by simply considering to traditional Jewish description of the marriage contract. I just paraphrased Canon 10 81 paragraph two in the 1917 code of Canon law, a man and a woman give an accept and exclusive and perpetual right for acts which are of themselves suitable for the generation of children, a man and a woman. Give and accept an exclusive and perpetual right for acts which are of themselves suitable for the generation of children.
Speaker 0 17:40 That's the marriage contract. That's what they're contracting for. If it's properly made, validly made this contract results in the relationship known as marriage. Both the man and the woman agree to the contract. That's why weddings work the way they do. You have two witnesses to the contract. Generally they call them the best man in the Maida honor. They're standing there on behalf of society. The priest is standing on behalf of the church with respect to this aspect. He supposed to ensure that the contracts properly entered into, okay, so what happens in poetic terms, he stands and asks the groom if he freely agrees to this contract answer. I do. Then since it's a contract, he turns to the bride. Both parties are in on the deal and again, in poetic terms, the ESIC bride, if she really is a grant, agrees to this contract. Answer I do and what are they saying I do to, they are saying I do to marital rights, marital rights, which means that they each give and accept rights to act, which are of themselves suitable for the generation of children. In other words, they've just been given not only God's permission, but as actual blessing to use the great creative power. They may use this great part and the condition that the acts are of themselves suitable for the generation of children that gives the limits of those rights, so no contraception, et cetera.
Speaker 0 19:12 They may use this great pot and the condition that these rights are exclusive, which means that each partner yields his rights exclusively to the other partner, which shows the unity of the relationship, no adultery, polygamy, et Cetera. They may use this great power on the condition that each partner yields these rights perpetually, which shows the indissolubility of the relationship. No divorce. Okay. Quick Review. We asked, what's the marriage contract? We saw that it means a man and a woman give and accept an exclusive perpetual right for acts which are themselves suitable for the generation of children. That's a marriage contract. We've already seen it. If it's properly made, if it's validly made, then this contract made between an a man and a woman. Results in a relationship made by God, which we call marriage. Okay. Now let's briefly consider the marital debt or the mirror marital duty.
Speaker 0 20:15 As we've seen, God created marriage with two specific purposes. The primary purpose is approcreation education of children. The secondary purpose of marriage is a mutual help and comfort of the spouses and remedy for concupiscence. Acts between the spouses are good to the degree that they conform to these two purposes of marriage. The general principle here is everything conformity with these two purposes. The primary and secondary purpose of marriage is good and permissible. Anything opposed to them is evil and forbid. Everything in conformity with the primary and secondary purpose. Marriage is good and permissible and anything opposed is evil and forbidden. We've also seen that by entering into marriage, each spouse has received rights, rights. These rights come from God. This means that the other spouse has a corresponding duty before God to accept a reasonable request. That's one of the consequences of saying I do.
Speaker 0 21:15 This is a serious duty owed in justice to the other spouse. Remember that this right is not simply right to the quieting of the passions, but a right to the union of the personalities and an expression of love. That means that the marriage debt must be paid generously or it's not being paid. Furthermore, to refuse a reasonable request to pay the debt without a very serious reason, and we'll get to those in just a minute. To refuse a reasonable crest to pay the debt without a very serious reason is a mortal sin against justice. Since it is a violation of the rights of the other spouse and it is also a mortal sin against charity because frustrating one's closest neighbor can place that spouse in a potentially serious danger of flying from concupiscence refusal without a very serious reason is a mortal sin against justice and a mortal sin against charity.
Speaker 0 22:13 Okay. Serious reasons that excuse from honoring the debt. The debt must be refused if there's insufficient privacy and when one partner insists on cooperation and sinful actions such as contraception, it may be refused for the following serious reasons when the one requesting has committed adultery, if it has not yet been forgiven for the other party when the one requesting is not in their right mind. For example, drunk when there is a real danger of causing miscarriage when there's grave danger of injuring other spas, for example, with a deadly disease for up to six weeks after birth, other questions should be referred to the confessional. Again, the debt must be refused if there's insufficient privacy and when one partner insists on cooperation and sinful actions such as contraception, it may be refused for the falling serious reasons or the one requesting is committed adultery who has not yet been forgiven by the other partner, one than requesting is not in the right mind, for example, drunk when there's a real danger of causing miscarriage when there's grave danger of injuring the other spouse.
Speaker 0 23:25 For example, the deadly disease for up to six weeks after birth. Again, other questions should be referred to the confessional. Let's review today we've taken a brief look at some of the current attacks and marriage at their historical roots and the teaching principles and practices of the original revolutionaries. We've seen that marriage was created by God, which means that no one can change the nature of marriage or its rules. We've seen it. God created marriage with two specific purposes. The procreation and education of children and the mutual help and comfort as spouses and as a remedy for concupiscence. We've seen at these two purposes, primary and secondary. Legitimate, which means that acts between spouses are good to the degree they conform to these two purposes of marriage. We've seen that the general principle is everything conformed with these two purposes. The primary and secondary purposes of marriage is good and permissible.
Speaker 0 24:22 Anything opposed to them is evil and forbidden. We've seen that the marriage contract has physical terms, spiritual terms, temporal terms, educational terms and indissoluble terms. Today we summarize the physical terms. The marriage contract we've seen the marriage contract meant that a man and a woman given except an exclusive and perpetual right for acts which are of themselves suitable for the generation of children. We've seen it. God has given each spouse rights, which means the other spouse has a corresponding duty before God to accept a reasonable request. We've seen that this a serious duty owed in justice to the other spouse and it must be paid generously or it's not being paid. We've seen that to refuse to pay the debt without a very serious reason as a modal sin against justice and it sells some modal sin against charity. We've seen that the debt must be refused if there's insufficient privacy.
Speaker 0 25:18 When one partner insists on cooperation and sinful actions such as contraception that may be refused for the following reasons, when the one request and is committed adultery, if it has not yet been forgiven, an requesting is not in the right mind when there's a real danger of causing miscarriage when there's grave danger injuring other spouse per up to six weeks after birth home. I've seen that other questions should be referred to confessional. Let's close with some thoughts from the great and sequoia on Christian marriage at Pope Pius the 11th quote, marriage and the laws of marriage cannot be subject to any human decrees or any contrary agreement even of the spouses themselves. The nature of matrimony is entirely independent of the free will of man, so that if one has once contracted matrimony, he's there by subject to it's divine. They made laws and to central properties from God comes the very institution of marriage. The purposes for which it was instituted, the laws that govern it, the blessings that fro from it. Well, man, to the generous surrender of his own person made to another for the whole span of his life becomes with the help and cooperation of God. The author of each particular marriage with the duties and blessings an x there to prune divine institution. Close quote the vicar of Christ. Let us ask her lady to protect marriages, especially those in which the cobbles are struggling.
