Episode Transcript
Speaker 0 00:00 Today, we'll start with the uh, seat, the first of a series of periodic sermons on marriage. Of course, we can only focus on one aspect at a time, which is okay as long as we keep in mind that any individual seminar topic, this vast is incomplete and inadequate without reference to all the others to come. Okay? But let's start today then by reminding ourselves of the most basic fact about marriage, a fact, which seems to escape a great number of the people in our society today. And that is that marriage is a creature. It's a creature. When we say something's a creature, that means that God created it. God knew exactly what he wanted marriage to be. God makes the rules. God didn't forget anything, and God isn't seeking our advice. What a gigantic difference it would make in our world if only everyone recognized this most basic fact that God created marriage and he makes the rules.
Speaker 0 01:03 I mean without being flippant, but think of the absolutely astronomical amount of unhappiness, misery, fights, drunkenness, and even bad country songs, and there's a pile of them that we'd all be spared from. If only everyone recognized this fact. Okay, there's a lot of practical consequences overdentures priests wise, the observed many years ago, quote, much of the self pity that underlies unhappiness and marriage is due to one of two things. The victim of self pity did not enter marriage on God's terms or did not understand what God's terms of the marriage contract are. The most important feature of the contract of marriage is the fact that the terms are laid down not by the free will of human beings, but by the authority command of God. 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, they 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 is to be attained. No human being is free to change either the purpose or the essential rules.
Speaker 1 02:40 Close quote,
Speaker 0 02:44 wished we could engrave that in stone on the mine of all our legislatures and people in the judiciary throughout this country in the world, God created marriage with a definite unchangeable purpose and a determined an unchangeable set of rules. And over the of time, we're going to take a close look at God's purpose and rules. But before we get to that, today we're gonna take a quick look at some rules that the church herself has imposed on marriage. Later on, we'll see how these particular rules protect and serve God's idea with marriage. Okay. Logically speaking, this is not necessarily the best place to start with dealing with marriage, but pastorally speaking, as we'll see, it's very important we have to deal with it all the time. So we'll start today by taking a quick look at what's called the canonical form of marriage, what it is and why it matters.
Speaker 0 03:35 But before we start, let's get two things perfectly clear in our minds. First off, we are going to be talking about the canonical form of marriage for Latin Catholics. What are you talking about, father? There are two basic kinds of Catholics, if you want to call it that. Latin Catholics. That's what most of us are. I know there's some eastern Catholics here quite regularly and Greek Catholics, Greek Catholics. I like Ukrainian Catholics, Euro Malabar, Catholics, Maronites, Melkite, Catholics and Catholics and so forth. Very generally speaking, Latin Catholics are descended from the peoples from the Latin speaking western part of the Roman Empire, or they're descended from people converted by missionaries from the Latin. Right. Generally speaking, Greek Catholics are descended from people from the Greek speaking eastern part of the Roman Empire or lands east of that. Okay. That's really general. All right. Anyway, whether or not we're Latin or Greek Catholic, we've got the same pub. We believe the same things.
Speaker 0 04:33 We had the same religion. Our liturgies and similar rules are different. Okay. The code of Canon law pertains to Latin Catholics. There's also an eastern code now of Canon Law for the Greek Catholics. We'll be looking at the canonical for marriage, for Latin Catholics. We're more, we're easier going. The rules for Greek Catholics are actually strict here. Okay. So what we're going to talk about are only the canonical form of marriage for Latin Catholics cause that's who I'm preaching to for the most part. The second we have to remit. Remember that marriage begins with a contract. Marriage begins with a contract. Now, just for the second point, we'll limit ourselves to speaking about marriage at the natural level. In other words, what we're saying right now is true for all marriages, whether or not the parties are baptized, whether or not the parties are Catholic. Okay? In a minute we'll be dealing with a situation involving at least one Catholic, but for right now we're just going to speak at the natural level.
Speaker 0 05:27 So this is going to be true of all marriages. Marriage begins with the contract. What's the marriage contract? This should be a review of the contract, which man and a woman make the contract, which they both consent to in order to enter into the relationship. A marriage is very clear. It might not be clear in people's minds nowadays, but the contract itself is a very clear, here's the traditional description of the marriage contract. 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. Okay. A man and a woman give an except and exclusive and perpetual, right for acts which whichever themselves suitable for the generation of children. That's the marriage contract. Okay. If it's properly made, validly made, then this contract results in a relationship known as marriage. The man and the woman make the contract.
Speaker 0 06:34 If it's properly made, God makes the relationship was in marriage, so the man and women are free to either make or not make the contract, but if they validly make this contract, God makes the marriage. Okay? Let's take a moment. Just consider the contract. Both the man and the woman agreed to the contract. That's why weddings work the way they do. First, the man is asked if he freely agrees to this contract answers. I do. Then since both parties are in on this deal, it's a contract. The bride is asked if she freely agrees to this contract. Answer. I do. What are they saying? I do to marital rights. Marital rights, which means that they each give and accept at rights to acts which are themselves suitable for the generation of children. By the way, that gets rid of a lot of these ridiculous ideas we have floating around.
Speaker 0 07:21 Cause that's the nicest word I can think and mixed company. Okay, ridiculous. In other words, what happens when they've entered in this contract? God makes the relationship they've just been given. No, he God's permission, but his blessing is actual blessing at that moment to use the great creative power. They may use this great power on the condition that the acts are of themselves suitable for the generation of children. So that tells us God's limits on the power right there. They only use it on the condition that these, that these rights are exclusive, which means that each partner utilize these rights exclusively to the other partner that shows the unity of the relationship and on the condition that each partner yields these rights perpetually till death do us part. And that shows the indissolubility of the relationship. Okay. We asked what's a marriage contract we saw?
Speaker 0 08:13 That means a man and a woman give an except and exclusive and prep perpetual rights for acts which are themselves suitable for the generation of children. That's the marriage contract. If the contract is popularly made, if it's validly made, than this contract between a man and a woman results in a relationship which is made by God himself and that relationship is known as marriage. It's important to note this. If the couple did not make a valid contract, then the relationship does not come into being. In other words, they weren't actually married. That's important. Everyone needs to burn this into his mind. If he didn't, they didn't make a valid contract. And the relationship known as marriage do actually come into being. If the couple didn't validly make the contract, then the relationship known as marriage didn't come into being our so called legal system might call it a marriage, but calling something a marriage does not make it so in Isaac God, marriage is what it is.
Speaker 0 09:18 Marriage is what it is. And if a couple of contracts for some other kind of relationship, let's just say, well, we'll do this like a test drive. We'll go for three years and see how it works. Then if it isn't working out for three years, we'll just split the sheets and go our way. Okay. Or they're not open to acts which are themselves suitable for the generation children. They might call that a marriage, but it isn't. Marriage is what it is. God created it these days. Folks call a lot of things. Marriage that aren't marriage in the eyes of God. A lot of things. Okay, so the two points we need to keep firmly in mind is first today we're only going to speak about the canonical form of marriage for Latin Catholics and second, the contract which a man and a woman make in order to enter in this state of marriage is very clear.
Speaker 0 10:05 A man and woman give and accept and exclusive and perpetual, right for acts which are themselves suitable for the generation of children. If that contract is properly made, which is the same as saying if it's validly made that results in relationship. And that relationship is known as marriage. The marriage is made by God. If the couple do not properly make the contract. If they don't validly make the contract, then the merge did not actually come in to be. Okay, so all that's background. With that as background, let's consider just what the canonical form of marriages for all us Latin, right Catholics and then why does it matter? The canonical form of marriage concerns the validity of a marriage in which at least one of the spouses is Catholic. So this does not concern. People that are not baptized to spouses that are not baptized, does not concern two people that grew up, you know, Anglican or or or Lutheran or stuff like that.
Speaker 0 11:04 It concerns the situation where at least one of the spouses is Catholic. The canonical form of marriage concerns the validity of that situation. There's certain requirements which the church itself has imposed on Catholics and what which must be met in order for Catholics to be validly married in order for them to make a valid contract. So the churches decide these are terms necessary to validly contract marriage. The church has said of Catholics, you're free to make this contract. That's fine. Then in order to actually make the contract, here's the rules, so before we even discuss exactly what these church impose requirements are, before we even discuss exactly what the canonical form of marriage is, we can already see why it's so important because it concerns the validity of marriage and invalid marriage is no marriage at all. Now we'll get to this in a minute cause a lot of people might be involved in these had had no idea.
Speaker 0 12:04 We'll get to that in a minute, but it's important that we see the principals in the first place and child marriage is not actually a marriage at all. So you can see this is a salvation issue. All right, so what is the can canonical form of marriage? What are the requirements which your church itself is imposed on Catholics in order for Catholics to val, the contract of marriage. Later on, we'll see why these requirements are here in the first place. We're not going to deal with that today. Today we'll just going to look at the requirements themselves. What is the canonical form? Remember again, this pertains to marriage where at least one a weddings, students, at least one person's a catholic. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. I'll read from the code of Canon Law Canon 1108 paragraph one quote. Only those marriages are valid, which are contracted in the presence of the local, ordinary, local ordinaries, the bishop of the diocese.
Speaker 0 12:54 We don't have marriages are valid in which, which I can track in the presence of the local, ordinary or parish priest or the priest or the deacon delegated by either of them. That's you mean by if there, that means the bishop or the parish priest who in the presence of two witnesses assists in accordance. However, with the rules set out in the fall and canons. Dot, dot, dot, dot dot. Close quote, the canonical form of marriage means that in order to be valid, the marriage must be contracted in the presence of two witnesses and also in the presence of the local bishop or the parish priest or priest or deacon with delegation from the local bishop or the parish priest. The basic idea here is if you're Catholic, the church requires you to have a Catholic wedding. Today. We're not going to see why the church actually requires this.
Speaker 0 13:38 This actually comes from the council of Trent. I don't make this stuff up. I'm in sales, not management. This is, I'm just telling you how it is. It comes from the cops, the trend, so I don't make this up. So Keith, let's be clear that, okay, all right. We're not going to see what's required today. What's required for two non-Catholics to get married. We're just going to consider the canonical form with the church requires for children and as we've just seen, she requires a Catholic wedding for validity. So here's the problem. If a Catholic guy and his girlfriend get a wild id, go to the local, just that piece or over to the first church of what's happening now and stand up there in front of everybody and exchange vows. It's not valid. That's another way of saying nothing happened. They came in as boyfriend and girlfriend and they left as boyfriend and girlfriend.
Speaker 0 14:27 Okay? They don't actually leave his man and why they're not married. You don't need me to tell you it's serious. It's serious. We all remember from when we're kids learn our catechism, the six commandment of the church, the sixth commandment, churches were required to obey the laws of the church with marriage. Back when we were little shavers learned our catechism and that didn't seem very important, but once we see the consequences of what we can see, why it's important. Okay, here's another important point called that one, but let's, let's expand with, look at another twist on. Suppose this Catholic guy wants to marry a girl. It's going to cause world war three in all kinds of fire and shootings and family problems. If she doesn't get married, your Dad's church cause your dad happens to be the preacher at the first church of what's happening now.
Speaker 0 15:14 We just saw that if they go in and stand up in front of her dad and exchange vials and leave, nothing happens. It came in, it's boyfriend and girlfriend. They left his boyfriend and girlfriend. They didn't get married because they couldn't get married. What can they do? Here is an important detail that the bishop has the power in individual cases to release a particular couple from the requirement of having a Catholic priest or deacon witnessed the marriage. And if because of this grave family problem, the bishop releases the couple from that requirement than it actually is a valid marriage. Okay. The church has no power to change God's rules. They have no part of change God's rules. But these are rules made by the church 500 years ago and stuff. There's a good reason the church can relax them to some degree. So the Church has established these rules, which also means that the church has a power to dispense from these rules.
Speaker 0 16:16 What does it mean? It means that if everything else is the same, if a Catholic tries to contract marriage done at the first church of what's happening now, but he doesn't have a dispensation, that he didn't get married. But if he does have a dispensation from the bishop, then he did get married. So everything else being the same, no dispensation, no marriage dispensation, marriage, notice, possession, no marriage, dispensation, marriage. What are we saying? We're saying that if a Catholic doesn't observe the canonical form of marriage and he doesn't have a bishops dispensation, then he can't validly contract marriage. It's true whether or not the couple is aware of the fact this is true. Whether or not either party is aware of the fact marriage is what it is. The couple may not be guilty at all. They may be perfectly innocent, not guilty of a single thing.
Speaker 0 17:12 They may be quite innocently unaware that teaching the church in this area, this is common and we live in strange times. It's surprising. It's not more common, but good intentions don't have the power to change what marriage is. Marriage is what it is, which means that if a Catholic doesn't observe the canonical form of marriage and doesn't have a dispensation from the bishop, then that person cannot validly contract marriage. Of course, if they don't know there's no sin, in order to commit a sin, we have to actually realize we're doing something wrong. So if we're ignorant of this, in this case, there's no sin, but there's still no marriage. Okay? I'm just gonna make a remark to the people that would be listening to this on CD. If you're in a predicament, go see your priest. He can help you out. All right, back to us.
Speaker 0 18:01 Now let's consider the case when there's a couple, at least one of whom was Catholic, does this knowingly to actually realize that the church requires form of marriage, but they decided to blow that off. What are they doing? Well, on the first off, since they're not observing the canonical form of marriage, they're not married. It's not possible. Marriage isn't at the will of the parties. Marriage is what it is. It's not possible. Since marriage is what it is, and good intentions don't change the situation than bad intentions. Sure can't change it either. Okay? They're not married and worse yet, they're knowingly deciding to live together without being married. There are knowing, deciding to live in sin. So not only is it not marriage, it's serious sin, and every year, this time of year, the phone rings off the hook, the calls keep pouring in. They go something like this.
Speaker 0 18:50 Father, we just got an invitation to a wedding. My son, daughter, nephew, niece, brother, sister, cousin, God's son, God daughter is a Catholic, but he's decided to get married down at the first church. What's happening now? Can we go to the wedding? What do I have to ask? Do they have a dispensation from the bishop? No father, I'm sorry to say. Then you can't go. See. They've decided to not invite Christ to the wedding. And if they're going to force you to make a choice, you're going to have to choose Christ our Lord. They're not getting married. And as Catholics who love our Lord, we don't want to get involved in those kinds of situations. Okay? There's a lot more that can be said on this topic and we'll pick it up again soon and fill in more details. But let's end for today. Parents tell your children that you love them if they must obey the churches, marriage laws, and if they ever decide, disobey and forced you to take sides as much as you love them, if they're gonna Force your take sides, you're always going to side with the Christ. Our Lord Tell Him we love you, but if you force us to take sides, we're always gonna side with the Christ.
Speaker 0 20:04 Star-Lord we're always going to side with Christ or Lord.
