La familia cristiana: cuestiones ante el Sínodo de Obispos de 1980

Abstract

Having shown that there exists a situation of crisis regarding the family, the author asks himself what are the universally valid and stable fundamental values of marriage and how they can be established in the face of the multiple current opinions. The starting point of any theology of marriage is the history of salvation, or to put it in other words, the mystery of Christ the Saviour. The Church should today do what Christ and the Apostles did: announce and make known again the grandeur and mission which Creator "from the beginning" has assigned to marriage and the family, and which the Redeemer has restored in a still more admirable manner. In Genesis (1, 26-28) the following elements appear: God created man, forming him in his image; the duality of sexes is willed by God and is at the service of fecundity and personal love; the difference between man and woman requires a community of life, and a union which is necessarily irrevocable and indissoluble; that union is a work of God. Christ, superseding the jewish casuistry, reminds man of the will of the Creator and affirms that chastity and conjugal fidelity are in the very heart of man St. Paul places marriage in the "great mystery" hidden for centuries in God and which consists in the divine will to save all men, to elevate them to being sons of God, to incorporate them into Christ, to make them members of the Mystical Body. Each marriage is a symbol of the unon between Christ and the Church and shares in the mystery of the unity and fruitful love that there is between them. Christian marriage is also an instrument of sanctification and not only a sign; it is what we call sacrament. This sacrament perfects creation and is not something merely added but is rather the marriage itself. When two baptised persons marry, in the first place, they reinforce all the authentically human values: the indissolubility, the fidelity unto death and the consecration of bodily and spiritual fruitfulness. But they also establish a new relationship with Christ: they institute a state of love in which each one is ready to give their life for the other. Marriage is thus a state, a vocation. Christian spouses generate children destined to be members of the Body of Christ and children of God; through them the Church grows and is renewed. The family is thus the "little Church" which, in its specific field, shares in and actualises the mystery of the "big Church". Christian marriage is not only an object of sanctification but is in its turn an instrument of sanctification. The royal priesthood, common to all the faithful also finds its realisation to a high .degree in marriage. Christian marriage is a sharing in the love and sacrifice of Christ for his Church which cuminates in the Cross. The coming Synod will have to examine, in the light of the teaching of the Church, the different roles of the family as they are considered today: the transmission of life, the education of children, the sanctification of family life and the ordering of society to make it more human, that is, more in conformity with the divine plan revealed by Christ. Along with these important subjects, some have also suggested that some debated questions which are of special doctrinal or pastoral difficulty should be examined. For example, "free unions" and "trial marriages"; marriage of baptised non-believers and the pastoral approach to divorced persons who have married again.