Mercy Perfects Love
By Steve Martin
From the very beginning of creation God has surrounded us with spiritual and physical goods. One of the great gifts God has given us is the Sacrament of Marriage. In the first two chapters of Genesis we find the story of creation. Right from the start God blessed the union between man and woman and testified to its goodness. In the New Covenant, Jesus Christ elevated this holy institution to the dignity of a sacrament.
Today as we celebrate the Feast of Divine Mercy, we have the opportunity to reflect on how God’s mercy has touched all of our lives by instituting marriage. Even those of us who are not married can discern God’s loving touch reaching out to us through this blessing.
Society itself is, in a way, an extension of the basic social unit that is marriage. When man and woman unite in this sacrament, a new community is formed... a family. It is within the family that all people are given the basic foundation of ethics and values that are necessary to live as a valuable member of any community.
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “The Family is the original cell of social life. It is the natural society in which husband and wife are called to give themselves in love and in the gift of life. Authority, stability, and a life of relationships within the family constitute the foundations for freedom, security, and fraternity within society. The family is the community in which, from childhood, one can learn moral values, begin to honor God, and make good use of freedom. Family life is an initiation into life in society.”
Marriage as God intends it to be is a beautiful and mysterious union that will bring good to each spouse and to society as a whole. It can be a source of great joy and virtue. It can be exciting and transforming. It can lead us to heaven. It can also be very difficult!
Because of sin, the relationship between man and woman has become strained. When Adam and Eve chose against God, the original communion between man and woman was ruptured. Their mutual love, which was once natural and effortless from being made in God’s image, became twisted and distorted. Without God’s grace it is impossible for man and woman to achieve the union which God intends marriage to be.
Thank God for the endless font of Mercy which we have received through the Church and her
sacraments! Through these gifts we can live the call of marriage as God intends. “The sacrament of
Matrimony signifies the union of Christ and the Church. It gives spouses the grace to love each other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church; the grace of the sacrament thus perfects the human love of the spouses, strengthens their indissoluble unity, and sanctifies them on the way to eternal life (cf. Council of Trent: DS 1799).”
Married couples must stay close to Christ and his Church. There we find the necessary grace to live our call to marriage with courage and virtue. The good of society depends upon it.
1 The New American Bible, Genesis, Chapter 1-2 2 CCC, pg. 1601
3 CCC, pg. 2207 4 CCC, pg. 1607 5 CCC, pg. 1608 6 CCC, pg. 1661