The Sacramentality of Spousal Union According to His Holiness John Paul II

When man and woman freely give themselves to each other in spousal union, it produces a third person - a child. This is what Pope John Paul II called the "Primordial sacrament"

Remember that a sacrament uses things which are visible to reveal invisible, spiritual and divine truths.

Just as man and woman freely giving themselves to each other in love produces a child, the perfect interchange of self-sacrificing love which takes place between the Father and the Son in Heaven produces the Holy Spirit. Catholics bear testimony to the fact that the perfect self giving love between the first and second persons of the Trinity produces the third prerson of the Trinity in our most basic statement of our faith which is the creed.

We believe in the Holy Spirit

The Lord, the Giver of Life

Who proceeds from the Father and the Son.

The fact that the Holy Spirit proceedes from the perfect interchange of self-giving and self-sacrificing love between God the Father and God the Son is basic trinitarian theology. This reality about how the Trinity functionsis revealed to man in a visble way by the manner in which God ordered man and woman. How man and woman love each other in spousal union, giving themselves freely and totally to each other, and how that union of love produces a child, reveals to us the invisible, spiritual and divine truth of how the Father and the Son love each other in Heaven and produce the Holy Spirit.

Spousal union reveals to us the most innermost workings of the trinity!

Spousal Union

Man + Woman = Child reveals Father + Son = Holy Spirit.

Man and Woman, in a gift of total commitment to each other (marriage), making the perfect offering to each other (spousal union) producing a child reveals to us the perfect love between God the Father and God the Son, totally committed to each other, producing the Holy Spirit.

Naked and Without Shame

The fact that Adam and Eve were "Naked and without shame" reveals to us that God the Father and God the son are completely known to each other, nothing hidden, completely vulnerable to each otther.

Dominion Over the Earth

The fact that God blessed Adam and Eve, commissioning them to multiply and fill the earth and have dominion over it reveals to us the Holy Spirit having dominion over all creation and over all life.

And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. (Genesis 1:28)

One Flesh

The fact that man and woman "Become one flesh" reveals to us the substantial union between God the Father and God the Son. They are not just united as Father and Son, but are one flesh, one substance, one God. As Jesus said...

The Father and I are one. (John 10:30)

I could go on but I think the reader will get the point.

In calling spousal union the "Primordial sacrament", Pope John Paul II points out that the ordering of man and woman in matrimony and procreation is the number one way in which humans not only know about the innermost workings of the Trinity, but experience it in our own lives. The love between God the Father and God the Son and how this perfect love produces the Holy Spirit is not just an objective truth which we understand, but a subjective reality which we experience in a very real and very powerful (a-hem!) way through the sacramentality of our male and female bodies. The self sacrificing love which takes place between God the Father and God the Son in Heaven becomes therefor not only our model for marriage, spousal union and procreation but the way in which we (are supposed to) experience trinitarian love prior to actually getting into Heaven and taking part in the beatific vision - union with the Trinity- ourselves. Our masculinity and femininity even reflect the Father and Son's giving and receiving of Love.

Claims that homosexual unions are somehow equivalient to marriage of a man and a woman are simply incorrect; this reality is stated very simply in the 27th verse of the Bible;

God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)

It's a simple yet sublime statement. Not only are individuals created in God's image by virtue of the fact that we have immortal, spirutual souls and that we have free will, but man and woman collectively were created in the image of the Trinity. The fact that any religious institution would advocate same sex union in any way evidences that institution's extremely shallow understanding understanding of trinitarian theology and the sacramental nature of all of creation, man and woman inclusive and especially.

Remember that the same Holy Spirit who proceedes from the perfect interchange of love between God the Father and God the Son is the same Holy Spirit who is the primary author of Scripture and everything in scripture is there for a reason. The Holy Spirit, as the primary author of Scripture, was not just classifying people into categories nor was the human writer of Genesis simply noting his own observation about the major visible differeneces between individuals. The Holy Spirit wanted us to know something about himself and about how he is created. God the Father and God the Son, wanted us to experience Trinitarian love in our lives.

And so, "God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them."

-Tim-