Marriage As a Sacrament Towards a New Theological Conceptualization*

Marriage as a Sacrament Towards a New Theological Conceptualization*

Carlo Rocchetta

At the present time, the debate on the theol- bore the imprint of canon law rather than that ogy of the sacrament of marriage is focused on of the sources of revelation. This being the case, a variety of issues. Some questions are typically it is not surprising that a true and proper spiri- dogmatic in nature: what do we mean to say, as tuality of conjugal life was almost entirely miss- theologians, when we refer to marriage as a “sacra- ing. The conception of Christian perfection, mod- ment”? Others reflect the urgent need for new elled on the monastic ideal, was applied tout court answers from the point of view of pastoral to marriage between baptised persons, so that the theology, in view of the proliferation of “irregular spirituality of the couple came ultimately to be situations”. Other issues, finally, arise in relation presented as an ascetic upward effort, away from to the need to develop a pastoral of marriage the blandishments of the world, rather than as a which can lead prospective and actual marriage full realization of the sacramental nature of mar- partners towards a fresh realization of the par- riage. Research on the theology of marriage as a ticular identity of their vocation. The complex- sacrament is still today a sort of “fragmented the- ity of the debate becomes more evident when ology”, carried on by isolated authors individu- one considers the difficult situation which the ally, rather than within a common framework theology of marriage has inherited from the past. making for a unified, global synthesis. Manuals of theology, whilst appearing to offer a complete doctrinal synthesis, were, in fact, rather The present paper, of course, does not pretend to poor in substance. The argumentation was almost solve a situation of this kind. Its purpose is merely entirely controversialist in nature, concerned with to provide an overall picture of the problems defending Catholic belief on marriage rather than involved, and to trace the main guidelines for a with deepening its positive understanding. To new theological conceptualization of marriage as this general consideration must be added the a sacrament. I shall identify three main areas for almost exclusively juridical and moralistic thrust reflection: 1. the sacrament of marriage as vocation; of theological thinking on marriage, in particu- 2. the sacrament of marriage as consecration; lar from the end of the Council of Trent until a 3. the sacrament of marriage as communion. few decades ago. In works of theology, the study of marriage was often included in the juridical sec- The sacrament of marriage as vocation tion1 and, in any event, limited to the consideration of the institution of the sacrament by Christ, and of points of matter and form, of the minis- The first point to be considered is the vocational ter and the subject, following an approach which identity of the sacrament of marriage; an identity

* This text is also available in an Italian, French and German version and can be requested at IntamsR.

1 See for instance G. VAN NOORT: De Sacramentis, vol. 2, Hilversum: Hollandia, 1930: after dealing at length with the first six sacraments, all he has to say about marriage is: “Marriage is not dealt with in this treatise because amongst us, as in many other centres of learning, the whole study of marriage takes place in the courses on Canon Law” (127).

5 IntamsR 2 (1996) which is rooted in the anthropological structure The whole development of post-Tridentine think- of the Christian matrimonial event. The sacrament ing on the subject bears the imprint of this of marriage is not something that takes place approach. An approach which, in fact, involves beyond or above the polarity of male and female the implicit dissociation of the human love of gender, of the man-woman relationship, their the spouses from the sacrament of marriage, as love and their mutual choice, but within, inside if they were two almost parallel realities, existing that situation, as a covenant which takes place in juxtaposition. If indeed the essence of “in the Lord”, and transforms the earthly reality marriage is that of a contract, then it is inevitable of marriage into a mystery of salvation. It is the that the sacrament of marriage should end up by very community of love between man and woman being understood as a reality which is juxtaposed which, in the grace of the Holy Spirit, becomes from outside on to the dynamics of the spouses’ a “sacrament” in Christ and in the Church. The commitment in mutual love, without regard to importance of this fact becomes particularly clear the deep, inseparable reciprocity and interde- if one looks, for a moment, at the approach inher- pendence of marriage and sacrament. Moreover, ited from the past. since the Council of Trent had directed its attention primarily to marriage in fieri, and had iden- 1.1. The weight of the past tified the essence of marriage in the element of mutual consent, theology tended to consider the As is well known, traditional reflection on mar- sacramental nature of marriage as a transient act riage, as gradually developed in the Middle Ages which is exhausted in the celebration of the and, in particular, in the post-Tridentine period, marriage contract itself. The traditio-acceptatio is characterized by an essentially contractual iuris in corpus thus became not only the object conception of the institution. The identity of the of the marriage contract, but the structural form sacrament of marriage is defined in terms of a of the sacrament itself, with a consequent impov- “contract”. Now a contract involves three funda- erishment of the theology of marriage as a sacramental elements: its object, its ends and its intent. ment which had a considerable impact on all The object of the marriage contract is the mutual subsequent thinking. At this point, it is inevitable ius in corpus, understood as the possession, in a that the theology of marriage should transfer its physical sense, of sexual rights on the body of the attention from the analysis of marriage as a con- spouse (“conjugal debt”)2. The ends are those already tract to the consideration of its functions. Although taught by St. Augustine: bonum prolis, bonum fidei in principle it is still held that bonum fidei rep- and bonum sacramenti, even though the relative resents the main end of marriage, bonum prolis order of importance of these is not made imme- becomes, in fact, the primary, if not the only, diately clear. The intentional nature is the same end or purpose of marriage. as requested in the stipulation of any other contract. Less clear is the question of the contract- The sacrament of marriage, rather than having the sacrament relationship. Up to the Council of Trent, justification for its existence in itself, finds its positions remain unclear. After the Council, and meaning outside itself, in the generation of off- the position adopted by R. Bellarmine, the thesis spring. The main bonum to which marriage tends that became prevalent was that there was perfect is thus distinct from the persons of the spouses. identity between contract and sacrament.3 The idea that the mutual love of the spouses, the

2 The idea of “conjugal debt” was so prevalent in traditional canonistic thinking as to be considered more binding than any property right so that it was even considered unnecessary to go to court in order to obtain execution (cf. for instance T. SANCHEZ (+1610): De Matrimonio, lib. 2, disp. 22, no. 13).

3 R. BELLARMINE: Disputationes de controversiis christianae fidei, Prague, 1771, especially vol. 3, p. 727, no. 7; p. 743, no. 6.9; p. 777, no. 17.

6 C. Rocchetta being two-in-one, represents the primary pur- is caught up into divine love and is directed and pose and the specific essence of the institution of enriched by the redemptive power of Christ and marriage is relegated to a secondary place. Little the salvific action of the Church” (GS 48,2). value is attached to the bonum sacramenti. The ecclesial nature of marriage is, in the final analy- This formulation of ends still bears, in part, the sis, circumscribed to the bonum prolis: marriage marks of the traditional approach, but at the is a bonum for the Church because it provides same time it introduces new elements, insofar as her with further children. The fact that marriage it describes the dignity and the value of marriage is in itself, and prior to any activity of procreation, as a sacrament in terms of a covenant which an event in which the spouses realize themselves, integrates from within the love relationship of and a sign of manifestation and actuation of the man towards woman and of woman towards man Church, Sponsa Verbi, is almost entirely ignored. and, by virtue of baptism, bonds it with the love relationship which indissolubly links Christ with 1.2. Vatican Council II: a turning point the Church. It is on this basis that Lumen Gentium places Christian marriage within the In this context, it will be easily appreciated that structural dynamism of the Church, the priestly Vatican Council II represented a turning point. people (LG 10), and of the sacraments and virtues Even though it did not concern itself expressly through which “the sacred nature and organic with the theological conception of marriage as a structure of the priestly community” is brought sacrament, the Council propounded a basic into operation (LG 11,1). The celebration of the approach distinguished by at least two funda- sacrament of marriage is thus understood as a mental novelties: the personal nature of the con- manifestation of the common priesthood of the jugal event, and its ecclesial nature in the full Church and of the bride and bridegroom. By meaning of the term. Marriage is a vocation virtue of this act, the spouses “signify and share rooted in the anthropological structure of the the mystery of the unity and faithful love between existence of man and of woman, in the mutual Christ and the Church”, “help one another to giving and receiving of one to the other. The pas- attain holiness in their married life” and “have toral constitution Gaudium et Spes explains that their own gifts in the people of God” (LG 11, 2; the intimate conjugal partnership, established by GS 48, 2-3; AA 11). the Creator and endowed by Him with its own proper laws, implies that the partnership of life 1.3. Theological inquiry and love of the spouses becomes a partnership of grace in Christ and in the Church. This part- What are the theological implications of the nership is rooted in the mutual consent of the sacrament of marriage as a vocation that emerge spouses, described with the Biblical term of “mar- from the Council’s position and from subsequent riage covenant”, which comprehends the juridi- theological reflection? I shall briefly enunciate cal meaning of “contract” but includes far richer four of them, formulated as theses. connotations. Gaudium et Spes goes on to say that the content of this “covenant” lies in the 1.3.1. The sacrament of marriage as the bring- mutual surrender, in the giving and receiving of ing of the man-woman relationship into the partners (“the mutual giving of two persons”, the compass of the relationship between and therefore not merely “a right on the body”) Christ and the church with a view to their mutual good and the good The sacramentality of marriage takes up and of their offspring. The content of the married fulfils the love of the two spouses, and is not sim- partnership is love, which – in the new covenant ply superimposed upon it. It is, in fact, from – participates in the love of God for His people, within that love and its dynamism that God the Church (GS 48,1). “Authentic married love brings about a greater love, similar to that which

7 IntamsR 2 (1996)

He has for His Church. It is therefore the actual 1.3.2. The sacrament of marriage as a funda- love relationship between the two spouses in the mental actualization of the church, Sponsa fullness of their persons, of their gender-identi- Verbi fied physical nature and of their giving themselves in a mutual pledge that the “marriage In consequence, the sacrament of marriage is not covenant” becomes a sacramental mystery of grace. to be understood as something that the Church This divine love not only respects the otherness performs from the outside on two individuals, of “man” and “woman” but gathers it into itself but as an event in which the Church manifests and leads it to its fullness. The reality of the sacra- her specific nature as a fundamental, indestruc- ment of marriage, in fact, receives the person that tible and eschatologically victorious sacrament of is man, and the person that is woman in their the grace of God brought to humankind in Jesus mutual relationship, male and female, one facing Christ. In every marriage celebration – as in every sacrament – the Church realizes herself in rela- the other, and acts thus in one way in the woman 5 and in another way in the man, the woman in tion to the vital situations of human existence. her womanliness towards the man, the man in his The spouses are made capable of ontological manliness towards the woman. It is the encounter participation in this ecclesial self-realization by of love of two human beings, man and woman, virtue of their baptism. As baptized persons they which becomes a sacrament; it is the relation- are in a position to carry out an act which, in its ship of these two persons which becomes a “sacra- specific ecclesial form, is an act proper to Christ. ment” in the strict sense of the word.4 And it is precisely as an act of Christ that marriage as a sacrament is a manifestation of the The reason why a sacrament is “needed” for this ministerial function of the Church, and the min- man-woman encounter to be fully realized lies isterial nature of the spouses falls within that in the fact that, since the Christian is radically con- broader ministerial compass. Each one of the two secrated to Christ in the Holy Spirit through spouses gives him or herself to the other one, so baptism, only Christ may give him or her to that they may be, to each other, the sign of Christ’s another person, and it is only in Him and in His love for the Church, and of the Church’s love for Church that the supernatural bond and the con- Christ. dition of grace can come into operation, so that the two spouses may truly and entirely belong The love relationship between man and woman one to the other. This is why the original and thus finds its origin and its exemplary nature in fundamental minister of the sacrament of mar- the mystery of the covenant of Christ with the riage is the glorious kyrios and, in him, his eccle- Church and is perennially nourished therefrom sial body. The conjugal event, as a sacrament, is (Eph 5,21-33). As baptized persons, the spouses a manifest realization of the love of the Redeemer perform and relive in themselves what is proper who, by an act of the Church, gives a man to a to the Church, namely that she is the sign of the woman and a woman to a man, in the full real- irrevocable covenant that Christ offered to the ity of their love and life, so as to unfold in them world. At the ontological level, this capacity flows the mystery of His new and eternal covenant from the nature of baptism, and at the personal and, through them, proclaim it to the world. level, from the free consent of the spouses.

4 Amongst contemporary theologians, E. SCHILLEBEECKX has drawn particular attention to this aspect. See especially Le mariage est un sacrement, Bruxelles-Paris, 1961; Het Huwelijk: Aardse werkelijkheid en heilsmysterie, Bilthoven: H. Nelissen, 1963.

5 K. RAHNER has, to his credit, highlighted this aspect. See especially Kirche und Sakramente, Freiburg/Breisgau: Herder, 1961; “Die Ehe als Sakrament”, in: Geist und Leben 40 (1967), 177-195; reprinted in Schriften zur Theologie, vol. 8, Einsiedeln: Benziger, 1967, 510-540.

8 C. Rocchetta

1.3.3. The sacrament of marriage as baptismal accomplished, in a perennial manner, by the mys- con-vocation which finds its meaning and tery of the Eucharist. Indeed, if the Eucharist fulfilment in the eucharist consists in the offering of Jesus Christ, Who gives Himself to the Church, Christian marriage is a The baptismal consecration, understood as a mode of implementation of this offering and its “being in Christ” is in fact the necessary and projection in history. In the mutual gift of one sufficient condition for the love between a man to the other, the spouses agree to put into prac- and a woman to be taken up by Christ within His tice a reciprocal donation modelled exactly after marital bond with the Church, participating that of Christ in the Eucharist, and thus they therein and becoming its efficient sign. The “being manifest and realize, for their own part, the mys- in Christ” conferred by baptism is not an “as if” tery of the Church as the bride of Christ. The but a real and objective “being in”. The sacrament communion with the kyrios of the Eucharist is the of marriage represents, than, for the spouses, the constant actualization of what marriage signifies putting into practice of one and the same and produces in the spouses. There is therefore baptismal identity: the sacrament of marriage is a twofold relationship: the Eucharist is a sacra- a baptismal con-vocation. Through their marriage, mental manifestation of the essence of Christian the spouses participate no longer as individuals, marriage, while Christian marriage represents a but as a couple, in the paschal event which real- form of “realized Eucharist”.6 izes the covenant of Christ with the Church; and they accept – in consequence – to be placed, 1.3.4. The sacrament of marriage as the epiphany vocationally speaking, in the same dimension of and historical realization of the love of mutual oblation. Marriage as a sacrament is offered God for humankind as an act which calls upon the spouses to relive in themselves the mystery of Christ’s paschal obla- As a “real symbol” of an ecclesial gesture which tion, and gives them the capacity to do so. This causes the spouses to participate in the love of is the theological significance of the freely given, Christ for His Church, the sacrament of mar- bilateral and ecclesial consent required by the riage constitutes a sign in history of the irrevo- rite. It is not just a matter of a juridical fact, but cable love of God for humankind. The paschal the commitment to a mutual “yes” which is event represents, in fact, the culmination of a bonded to the paschal covenant of Christ with the divine love which wants to manifest itself and to Church and calls for openness to its forming unfold in the hearts of all human beings. The power. The “yes” of the spouses becomes part of two spouses are the concrete, historical sign of the the “yes” of Christ to the Church, it establishes divine love revealed in Jesus dead and resurrected. them within it and involves them, as spouses, in The sacrament of marriage thus expresses in its an essentially paschal spirituality. full depth the structural unity which exists between the order of creation and the order of To celebrate the Christian rite of marriage is, in salvation. fact, for the spouses, a form of surrender of themselves, as a couple, to the dynamism of the paschal Christian marriage realizes in itself this unity process, so that the whole of their conjugal exis- which corresponds to the unity of the mysterion tence becomes a paschal event. This makes clear (in the Pauline sense), proclaims it in action and the theological significance of the fact that the cel- unfolds it in the world. Just as there are not two ebration of a marriage usually takes place within kinds of history, but only one single history of the context of an eucharistic celebration: the salvation, starting with the creation and aiming meaning of the matrimonial event is revealed and at a new heaven and a new earth, just so there

6 See, amongst many studies, the article by A. AMBROSIANO: “Matrimonio ed eucaristia”, in: Asprenas 2-3 (1975), 203-219.

9 IntamsR 2 (1996) are not two kinds of marriage: there is only one 2.1. The sacramental sign: the traditional view marriage which is gathered into the reality of Christ’s marriage with the Church. The novitas The scholastic conception of the sacramental of marriage as a sacrament lies in the inclusion sign of marriage is characterized, as is well known, of the spouses in the covenant of the Lord in his by the hylomorphic structure of matter and form glory with his bride. This inclusion brings about (of Aristotelian origin). This conception has caused the transcendental opening up of man and considerable difficulties whenever attempts were woman as a couple and raises the two spouses made to explain what was the “matter” and the beyond their natural possibilities towards the “form” of the sacrament of marriage. According infinite love of God for them and for to some authors, matter would be represented humankind. The spirituality of Christian mar- by the bodies of the two partners, and form by riage has a fundamental connotation: it is not the words they exchange in making the mutual an abstract spirituality, floating halfway between pledge. Others believed that the matter of the heaven and earth, but rather a deeply human sacrament was to be found in the inward mutual spirituality, rooted in history, which can inte- consent, and the form in the words used to for- grate the living experience of man and woman mulate it. The problem of the sacramental sign and turn it into a sign of God’s design of love – never clearly solved – involves the issue of the for humankind, and a privileged instance of its identity of the minister of marriage with the coming to be. The vocational nature of mar- spouses themselves, and this led eventually to the riage as a sacrament must be seen within this formulation of a solution which became ulti- context of totality: a vocation which is, for this mately prevalent throughout the West. In fact, if very reason, a mission. matter and form are identified with the marriage contract, it inevitably follows that the spouses are to be considered as the only ministers of mar- The sacrament of marriage as consecration riage. It is in them that the sacramental sign (matter and form, however understood) is to be found, By placing marriage within this context, con- and they are therefore the ones who mutually temporary theology makes the point that Chris- receive and “administer” the sacrament to each tian marriage is at one and the same time mem- other. The priest is only a qualified witness (testis ory, presence and prophecy of the mysterion in spectabilis). Towards the middle of the sixteenth the world (Familiaris Consortio, 13). The spouses century, however, Melchior Cano abandoned this recall God’s marital love for humankind, they view and maintained that the sacrament of mar- relive, “here and now”, what this love has given riage is not to be entirely identified with the mar- to the world, and they await and anticipate the riage contract. Taking up again the thesis of some definitive manifestation of God’s love in the early Italian scholastics, Cano states that the Heavenly Jerusalem. This means that it is nec- mutual consent of the spouses constitutes the essary to move on from consideration of mar- matter, and the priestly blessing the form of the riage as vocation to the deeper level of mar- sacrament and that, consequently, the priest is 7 riage as consecration, thus developing a new, the minister of the sacrament. richer understanding of the sacramental sign, so as to progress from the sacramentality of con- Cano’s work was published some years after his sensus to the sacramentality of the entire con- death, in 1563, during the Council of Trent. His jugal existence. thesis was favourably received by a number of

7 De locis theologicis, VIII, 5.

10 C. Rocchetta theologians, both during and after the Council.8 the spouses became a doctrine which was gener- It did not, however, prevail. The introduction, ally accepted11, except by most German theolo- by the Council of Trent, of a canonical form of gians of the early nineteenth century12. celebration which provided for the marriage to take place in the presence of the parish priest and 2.2. The need to rethink of at least two witnesses, tended rather to strengthen the conviction that the spouses were The need to rethink this view has been high- to be considered as the only ministers of the lighted in recent decades in various theological sacrament of marriage. According to the teach- quarters. The hylomorphic schema of matter and ings handed down in manuals of theology, this form is ill suited to the structure of marriage as a is what was in the minds of the Council fathers sacrament, since it does not make clear how the when they affirmed the sacramental nature of mutual traditio-acceptatio of the spouses can, in Christian marriage. It is true that Benedict XIV, itself, be a sacramental event.13 Taking his inspi- in the first half of the eighteenth century, was ration from a text of St. Thomas Aquinas, J.M. still willing to permit free discussion of the issue, Aubert states that for this schema to be accept- allowing the plausibility of Cano’s view.9 able “it would be necessary to place the equivalent of form in the baptismal character, which trans- After the contrary position adopted by the form the conjugal situation according to nature Congregation of the Council, however, and the (matter) into a sacrament”14. But even with this condemnation of Nuytz by Pius IX, as well as kind of explanation, it is clear that there are dif- repeated statements by subsequent pontiffs up ficulties involved in applying philosophical cate- to Pius XII10, the thesis of the ministeriality of gories such as those of matter and form to an act

8 See for instance W. ESTIUS (+l613): In IV Sent., d. 26; SYLVIUS (+1649): In Suppl., q. 42, a. 1, q. 1; F. TOLETO (+1596): Instructio sacerdotum, lib. 7, c. 2; H. TOURNELY (+1723): De matr., q. 5, a. 2 (Venezia, 1755, t. 2, 63).

9 De Synodo diocesana, lib. 8, c.13, no. 4.

10 PIUS XII, in Mystici Corporis, speaks of “coniuges sibi invicem sunt ministri gratiae”: AAS, 35 (1943), 202.

11 Just by way of example, I would recall A.VERHAMME: “De materia et forma sacramenti matrimonii”, in: Collationes Brugenses 48 (1952), l2-16; “De ministro sacramenti matrimonii”, ibid. 83-89. According to this author, “the matter and the form of the sacrament of marriage, whatever they may be, must be sought in the contract itself” and, since the sacrament is identified with the contract, “the priest’s blessing is in no way an essential part, neither as matter nor as form” (“De materia”, 12-13). “Marriage, on account of its special nature, has as its ministers the marriage partners themselves. The spouses mutually receive and administer the sacrament; the priest, on the other hand, is not a minister, but only a qualified witness” (“De ministro”, 83).

12 In the sixties, P. ADNES adopts a more flexible position. In Le mariage, Tournai: Desclée, 1962, after pointing out that the only text of the magisterium in which the spouses are referred to as ministers is Mystici Corporis, he agrees that the priest may be described as the minister of the marriage celebration in the view of the Church (Ital. transl.: Il matrimonio, Roma: Desclée-Ed. Pontificio, 1966, 147-153).

13 Already in the fifties, M. SCHMAUS admitted that it was difficult to apply the concepts of matter and form to the sacramental sign of marriage. “It will therefore be better, in the sacrament of marriage, to refrain from applying the concepts of ‘matter’ and ‘form’” (Katholische Dogmatik: Die Lehre von den Sakramenten, vol. 4/1, München, 61964, 801).

14 J.M. AUBERT: “Foi et sacrement dans le mariage: A propos du mariage de baptisés incroyants”, in: La Maison-Dieu 104 (1970), l23. A similar position can be found in K. REINHARDT: Ehe-Sakrament in der Kirche des Herrn, Berlin: M. Verlag, 1971, with further stress on the role of baptism: “The baptism of the spouses has, for the sacramentality of their marriage, a function similar to that of the word as expression of faith in the case of other sacraments” (32).

11 IntamsR 2 (1996) such as marriage as a sacrament. At the most, this The sacraments are acts of Christ and of the can be done only by way of analogy.15 It is there- Church. If marriage is a sacrament, it is first and fore necessary to adopt a broader conception. foremost an act of Christ and of the Church. The ministeriality of the spouses consists in their 2.2.1. Ministeriality of the spouses as ministeri- participation (by virtue of baptism) in the act of ality in Christ and in the Church Christ and of the Church, which is symbolically operative with the gifts it signifies. The spouses At the moment when a man and a woman do not “administer to each other”, nor do they engage in a mutual “marriage covenant”, they even merely “receive” the sacrament of marriage represent symbolically – in their full personal as if it were a “thing”, but they celebrate an act “male” and “female” realities – the mystery of which – by virtue of their baptism – makes them Christ and of the Church. As baptized believ- participants in the mystery of the covenant which ers, they perform an act which is, properly speak- takes place for them and in them. From this point ing, an act of Christ and of the Church and of view, to reduce the role of the ordained which, as such, signifies and operates an effec- minister to that of a mere “qualified witness” does tive introduction of the two spouses, man and not seem to be enough. The nuptial blessing woman, into the mystery of the Christ-Church pronounced by the ordained minister was the covenant. This means that the sacramental sign original form of marriage celebration between is provided by the conjugal community itself, that Christians. Perhaps it would not be a bad idea to is to say by the community of a man and a restore the fullness of its meaning in the new rite woman who proclaim their intention to be as well, instead of reducing it to a sort of mutually bound as husband and wife with spe- appendage of the marriage rite proper, as is the cific reference to their being “in the Lord”, that case at present. This kind of rethinking, of course, is to say to their being two baptized persons. means that it is necessary to overcome the reduc- Their act (since they exist in Christ through the tionist conception which identifies the contract operation of baptism) is the efficacious sign of entirely with the sacrament, and to move towards the paschal eschaton of the kyrios, celebrated by a view that is truly appreciative of the “mystery” the Church in the power of the Holy Spirit. of marriage, which would also be closer to that The description of the spouses as “ministers” is of Oriental theology.17 “In the West, the stress is therefore to be understood in a broad sense, and placed on the baptismal character of the spouses not in the sense – as is often claimed – that “the and on their royal priesthood” – notes Cardinal spouses administer the sacrament to each other”, G. Danneels in an article. “The priest, as repre- as if the sacrament were something that is mutu- sentative of Christ and of the community, ally exchanged, or as if the action of the Church publicly confirms the act of the spouses...In the were of a secondary or merely supplementary East, the stress is placed rather on the priestly nature.16 ministry of the priest...Through the person of

15 This seems to be the case with G. TEICHTWEIER: “Die Ehe als Sakrament in der Sicht des Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzils”, in: Funktion und Struktur christlicher Gemeinde, ed. by H. POMPEY / H. HEPP-MIELENBRINK, Würzburg: Echter, 1971, 207-217. This author takes conjugal love with all its component elements as the sacramental sign: the form would be found in the marriage consent, which includes the consent to sacramentality; the matter would be the una caro as close communion of life (211).

16 It is regrettable that the new Catechism of the Catholic Church published in 1992, should continue to state that “it is the spouses, as ministers of the grace of Christ, who mutually confer on each other the sacrament of marriage...” (no. 1623). A very unfortunate formulation.

17 Cf. G. DANNEELS: “Les ministres du sacrement du mariage”, in: P. DE LOCHT (Ed.): Mariage et sacrement de mariage, Paris: Centurion, 1970, 199-207.

12 C. Rocchetta the celebrant, the Church enters ‘visibly’ into the thinking in our time is the need for a deeper constitution of the sacramental sign”.18 understanding of marriage as a “permanent sacrament”. The Council of Trent did not go further The importance of rediscovering marriage as a than to recall that the grace of the sacrament of mysterion is to be seen within the global context marriage “perfects conjugal love, confirms the of the encounter between the Western and the indissolubility of this love and sanctifies the Eastern traditions. In our language, Christian mar- spouses”.20 riage is customarily referred to as a “sacrament”. A term which, according to its etymology, denotes It was R. Bellarmine who, in relation to the a hidden, divine reality, operating in and through scholastic distinction between matrimonium in a visible sign. Contemporary theology believes that esse and matrimonium in fieri, introduced the idea this term can only be fully understood in relation of the permanent sacrament by analogy with the to its Greek equivalent of mysterion. As is well sacrament of the Eucharist: known, a mysterion is not simply a hidden or “The sacrament of marriage may be consid- incomprehensible truth, but rather the event of ered in two ways: firstly, while it is being God’s communication of Himself, which becomes celebrated; secondly, as long as it lasts after it the history of salvation and the gift of grace to has been celebrated. And this because it is a humankind. The sacraments belong to this cate- sacrament similar to that of the Eucharist, gory of mysterion and they are salvific acts of the which is a sacrament not only while it is being Lord in His glory, which render actual, in the time performed, but as long as it endures. In of the Church, the ephapax of the paschal event. consequence, as long as the spouses live, their It is in this sense that they are described as myste- union is always a sacrament of Christ and of 19 ria, “salvific mysteries”. Marriage as a sacrament the Church”.21 has to be seen in the same light. The supernatural This splendid intuition, however, remained an element cannot be conceived as something which isolated insight and was not incorporated into is simply superimposed upon the natural order, the mainstream of official theology. What con- but rather as something which, while transcend- tinued to prevail there was the view of marriage ing that natural order, takes it up ad intra, raises as a contract which we have already discussed. it up and leads it to its fullness. The matter was only taken up again three cen- 2.2.2. The sacrament of marriage as a “conse- turies later by M.J. Scheeben.22 He believed that crating sacrament” the sacrament of marriage could be described, Reasoning along these lines, it becomes clear just like baptism, confirmation and holy orders, that one of the main challenges to theological as a “consecrating sacrament”. According to this

18 Ibid. 206ff.

19 As regards the importance of this understanding, I should like to refer, amongst many other relevant studies, to: R. SCHULTE: “Die Einzelsakramente als Ausgliederung des Wurzelsakramentes”, in: Mysterium Salutis, vol. 4/2, Ein- siedeln: Benziger, 1973, 46-155. For a more detailed analysis, cf. C. ROCCHETTA: Sacramentaria fondamentale: Dal “mysterion” al “sacramentum”, Bologna: EDB, 21990.

20 “Amorem perficere, indissolubilem unitatem confirmare, coniugesque sanctificare” (DS 1799).

21 R. BELLARMINE: De controversiis, III; De Matrimonio, controversia II, c. 6.

22 M.J. SCHEEBEN: Die Mysterien des Christentums, Freiburg/Br.: Herder, 1865, reprinted in Gesammelte Schriften, vol. 2, ed. by J. HÖFER, Freiburg/Br.: Herder, 1951.

13 IntamsR 2 (1996) author, consecrating sacraments are those through with the spouses, and to their “quasi consecration” which “we are consecrated to a supernatural task (GS 48,3). The Council did not state in so many and come to occupy a special and permanent posi- words that marriage is a “permanent sacrament”, tion in the mystical body of Christ”.23 The con- but implied as much when it made clear that the secration is operative in the supernatural bond foundation of Christ’s permanence with the between the two spouses, within the supernatural spouses is to be understood in the sense of a bond that exists between Christ and the Church. spousal covenant in line with God’s covenant A bond which is an irradiation of, and a partici- with the chosen people and with the definitive pation in, the permanent bond which unites human covenant established by Christ with the Church nature with the divine nature of the Word.24 The (GS 48,3). Familiaris Consortio, in no. 13, seems prevalence of neo-scholasticism in theology pre- to refer to a similar conception when it explains vented Scheeben’s views from exerting much influ- that, as regards salvation, “the spouses participate ence until after the publication, in 1930, of Pius both together, as a couple, to such an extent that XI’s Casti Connubii. That encyclical, quoting the the first, immediate effect of marriage (res et sacra- above mentioned text of Bellarmine, stressed how mentum) is not supernatural grace itself, but the the spouses, by virtue of the sacrament of mar- Christian conjugal bond, a twosome communion riage, are “sanctified and strengthened in the duties which is typically Christian because it represents of their estate by means of a special sacrament, the the mystery of the incarnation of Christ, and his efficacious virtue of which, although it does not mystery of covenant”.28 This supernatural bond, impart character, is nevertheless permanent”.25 The by analogy with the character of the three sacra- Pope speaks there of “quasi consecration”, com- ments that confer it, may be qualified as a “quasi paring the sacrament of marriage to that of bap- character”. “Quasi”, not in the sense that it is tism and of holy orders.26 Later manuals of sacra- something inferior to “character” proper, but in mental theology have succeeded only in part in the sense that it is an actual manifestation of making clear the richness of this statement.27 God’s irrevocable covenant in relation to the two spouses, who are thus raised to a new sacramen- Vatican Council II, on the other hand, made tal union in Christ and in the Church. It is the explicit reference to the permanence of Christ consecration of the union of two persons, and not

23 Die Mysterien des Christentums, 471.

24 “Thus, Christian marriage, by its very nature, amounts to a supernatural consecration, and the spouses themselves are consecrated to God in a particular manner and enter thus into a special union with Christ and with His life of grace” (ibid. 472).

25 AAS 22 (1930), 553.

26 Ibid. 555.

27 F. S OLA, for instance, deals with the problem of the permanent sacrament on the basis of its nature as a contract. A contract is a transient, not a permanent reality: “What endures in the marriage is the bond, but this is not the contract itself, but its effect or consequence” (“De matrimonio”, in: Sacra Theologia Summa, vol. 4, Madrid: BAC, 1954, 746- 748; new edition, revised and amended, of the original text of 1943). The text of Pius XI is commented upon as follows: “The Pope propounds these things as ‘piam considerationem’ and not as ‘doctrinam’, and for this reason they do not need to be given preference over the opposite view” (ibid. 746). A similar attitude, albeit expressed in a more differentiated and cautious manner, is found in most authors, at least up to the Sixties and Seventies.

28 The explanation in FC is based on the classic tripartite analysis of the sacrament: marriage, in its sign (signum tantum) has as its first and immediate effect the conjugal bond (res et signum), and to this is added as a second effect the supernatural grace (res tantum), as a consequent gift and its requirement.

14 C. Rocchetta of one single individual. The spirituality of mar- to serve life.29 The concept of matrimonial fer- riage is thus the actual expression of a sacra- tility, within the context of marriage as a sacramentality which not only involves the whole of ment, is to be understood in this richer meaning the conjugal community, but calls the spouses to as “obedience to the deep inner dynamism of communion and to sanctity in the totality of love” and as “the gift of oneself to others”, to use their existence (sacramentum permanens). It is not the language of Familiaris Consortio (no. 41). only just the consent which is a sacrament, but the whole existence of the spouses united “in the The sacrament of marriage as communion Lord”.

2.2.3. The fertility of marriage as a sacrament: This brings us to the third aspect: the sacra- beyond simple biology ment of marriage as communion. A communion which has its source in the ineffable communion It is in this context that the full meaning of the of the Trinity, unfolds it and makes it manifest fertility of a couple’s life, beyond the purely bio- in the process of history. This aspect has not often logical level, must be seen. Conjugal life is the been given much attention in theological dis- image of God the Creator, not primarily through course. Only in recent decades have a few attempts the activity of procreation, but because it is a been made to pursue this line of thought, and even union which constitutes the living form of self- these start off from widely different assumptions. giving in love, disinterestedness, communion and service. It is because of this that conjugal life is 3.1. Recent attempts an image of God the Creator. It is not primarily, or exclusively, a matter of physical fertility. K. Barth, for instance, sees in Gen 1,27 the Otherwise animals, with their fertility, would also statement that the human couple were created be an image of the divine activity of creation, “in the image of God” not simply as a reference whilst infertile spouses would not! to their ability to procreate, but as meaning that Conjugal fertility lies, above all, in the unitive the couple reflect and reproduce in themselves and total love which makes it possible for the that relationship between “I” and “You” which spouses to develop in mutual growth, following constitutes the Divine Being itself. “The charac- the model of the Creator and of the love of Christ teristic feature” – he writes – “of the essence of for the Church, in a reciprocal flow of exchange, God, which consists in being an ‘I’ and a ‘You’, of giving and receiving, which leads the spouses and the characteristic feature of the human to serve, with the whole of their existence, God’s person, which consists in being ‘man’ and being design of love for the world. Procreation itself ‘woman’, correspond exactly to one another”.30 As finds its full significance only within the frame- a matter of fact, M.J. Scheeben had already work of a love which develops the spouses and attempted to develop a Trinitarian understanding has the capacity of signifying the creative action of the concept of the human couple, created in of God as an expression of love in the mutual the image of, and similarity to, God31, and had readiness of the spouses to serve each other and gone so far as to suggest that the creation of

29 A beautiful description of this kind of fertility is found in Apostolicam Actuositatem, 11, where, by way of example, reference is made to the adoption of children, the harbouring of foreigners, contributions to the education of the young, catechetical service and financial aid furnished to engaged or married couples who find themselves in material or moral difficulties, assistance to the elderly, etc.

30 K. BARTH: Die Kirchliche Dogmatik, vol. 3/1, Zürich: EVZ, 1945, 41,2.

31 M.J. SCHEEBEN: Handbuch dcr Katholischen Dogmatik, vol. 3, Freiburg/Br.: Herder, 1972, 148, nos. 368-374.

15 IntamsR 2 (1996)

Adam symbolized the eternal generation of the marriage as a sacrament as a result of the opera- Word, and the creation of woman symbolized tion of the Holy Spirit, Who makes the couple the procession of the Holy Spirit communicating, who marry in the Lord into a living “shrine” of according to Greek theology, from the Father the Trinity. through the Word, as an exemplary manifestation, beyond the fact of creation, of the permanent 3.2.1. The Holy Spirit and marriage relationship between man and woman: man The first point to be recalled in this connection representing the Word, God’s creative strength is the pneumatological dimension of marriage as and power, and woman the Holy Spirit, God’s love a sacrament.35 The Holy Spirit is the invisible and tenderness.32 protagonist of the marriage between two baptized persons in its entire vocational reality, as Scheeben’s and Barth’s approaches are suggestive “consecrating sacrament” and as communion. It enough, but they have been criticized for lacking is in the Holy Spirit that man and woman meet adequate exegetical foundations. For this reason, and build one another in love. It is in the Holy some authors today tend to seek the basis for the Spirit that they present themselves to the Church duality of gender and for the conjugal commu- and celebrate their marriage. It is in the Holy nion not so much in a human analogy with the Spirit that their mutual consent is made actual in mystery of the Trinity but rather in the nuptial the “yes” of Christ and the Church and makes relationship existing between Christ and the them partners in the new covenant. It is in the Church. Holy Spirit that the spouses exercise their baptismal priesthood and realize their conjugal com- This is, for instance, the position of the “later” munity as a community of love and of grace. H. Doms33, who maintains that the why of the There is no step on the conjugal path that is not creation of the human couple can only be under- under the sign of the Holy Spirit. stood in the light of redemption. The human couple, according to him, has been created by It is not by accident that rituals both before and God in the image of Christ and of the Church, after the Council of Trent provided for the cele- as seems to be suggested in Ephesians 5.34 bration of a “Mass of the Holy Spirit” as an act of preparation for the marriage rite proper. This 3.2. Need for a new approach was intended to recall that the sacramental event These attempts are certainly not without merit. of marriage flourishes in the Church as a gift of The problem however, at least as far as we are the Holy Spirit. Even today, in the Oriental concerned, is to avoid abstract speculation and churches, the climax of the marriage ceremony to proceed on the basis of the specific fact of consists in the placing of crowns on the heads of

32 Ibid., no. 375. See also M. VALKOVIC: L’uomo, la donna e il matrimonio nella teologia di M.J.Scheeben, Roma: PUG, 1965.

33 The “earlier” H. DOMS adopted the same position as Scheeben; cf. Vom Sinn und Zweck der Ehe, Breslau: Ostdeutsche Verlagsanstalt, 1935 (French transl.: Du sens et de la fin du mariage, Paris: Desclée, 1937, 30).

34 H. DOMS: “Zweigeschlechtlichkeit und Ehe”, in: Mysterium Salutis, vol. 2, Einsiedeln: Benziger, 1967 (Ital. trans.: “Sessualità e matrimonio”, in: Mysterium Salutis, vol. 4, Brescia: Queriniana, 1970, 419-424 and 447).

35 Familiaris Consortio says: “The Spirit that the Lord pours forth renews the heart and makes it possible for man and woman to love each other as Christ has loved us” (no.13). A good contribution to the study of this subject has recently been made by M. MARTINEZ PEQUE in his El Espíritu Santo y el Matrimonio a partir del Vaticano II, Roma: Antoni- anum, 1991.

16 C. Rocchetta the bride and bridegroom, as a symbol of the order of creation, as is the case with every human invocation of the Holy Spirit, and of His descent marriage. In the Christian marriage, the Trinity onto the spouses.36 Not only the rite, but the is present, and lives in the “I-you” of the spouses ultimate res of the sacramental act is the donum as a manifestation of grace, in a manner which Sancti Spiritus, as the source and synthesis of all is certainly mysterious, but real, and which can the gifts that flow from Christ’s work of redemp- only be apprehended by faith. The grace bestowed tion. The Holy Spirit poured forth on the spouses at baptism on the individual already effects the is the source and principle of the bond which presence of the Holy Trinity. In the couple, this unites them indissolubly and makes them into presence is effected in a new manner, as a joint participants in the “marriage” of Christ with the communion of both partners and their partici- Church (FC 21). This gift is the basis and foun- pation in the dynamism of Trinitarian love. dation of the twofold effect of the sacramental event of marriage: the permanent bond and the The Trinity represents the formative source of operation of grace. marriage as a sacrament of communion. Since the Holy Spirit is the nexus amoris of the Father The presence and the action of the Holy Spirit and the Son, the action of the Spirit in marriage represent the root and the indestructible nour- is expressed as a bond and a reciprocity of love, ishment of the life of the spouses and of their and hence as the foundation for the love of the mutual giving and receiving. As P. Evdokimov couple, and its development. Thanks to the gift puts it, in a rather poetic but expressive kind of of the Holy Spirit, the whole existence of the language: “It is the Spirit that calls forth the spouses is placed under the sign of the mystery priestly charity of the husbands and awakens the of the Trinity, following a circular movement motherly tenderness of the wives”.37 (from the Father through the Son in the Holy Spirit / in the Holy Spirit through the Son to the Father) 3.2.2. Conjugal life as an event of Trinitarian which makes of conjugal existence a living Trini- communion tarian doxology, within the Trinitarian dynamism By virtue of the gift of the Holy Spirit, the exis- of the Church and the liturgy. The communion tence of Christian spouses reaches out to the of the spouses will undoubtedly be subjected to depths of Trinitarian communion, thus becom- trials, difficulties and temptations, but the pres- ing a “sacrament” and an actual manifestation of ence of the Spirit will ensure that they enjoy the the eternal suffusion of the Trinity in history. assistance of the necessary grace to be able to The Holy Spirit, as the spirit of the love of the renew themselves every day in their dedication, Father and of the Son, brings about the super- and love each other as Christ loved the Church natural transformation of the love of man and and gave Himself for her sake, for ever, in mutual woman, making it part of the Trinitarian Love dedication (GS 48). This communion will have which constitutes the very being of God. It is to be nourished day by day, in a dynamic process not just a matter of an image of the Trinity in the of reconciliation and of joy.

36 The present Catholic rite, unfortunately, is not as rich. In the editio tipica of 1969, the Holy Spirit was present in only one of the forms of words proposed for the blessing at the conclusion of the Mass. In the revision of the rite carried out in 1990 – in addition to some changes in the prayers of the faithful and in the choice of Biblical readings – an epicletic formula has been introduced, accompanied by the imposition of hands, into the prayer for the blessing of the spouses. This is certainly an important change, but it is still entirely insufficient and inadequate to express the pneumatological dimension of the rite of marriage in relation to its origin, its accomplishment and its global significance.

37 P. E VDOKIMOV: Sacrement de l’amour: le mystère conjugal à la lumière de la tradition orthodoxe, Paris, 1962 (Ital. trans.: Sacramento dell’amore: il mistero coniugale secondo la teologia ortodossa, Brescia: Cens, 1969, 226.)

17 IntamsR 2 (1996)

Christian marriage can aptly be described in the concluding words of St. John at the end of the Book of Revelation: “The Spirit and the Carlo Rocchetta was born in 1943 in Prato, bride say: ‘Come’. And let him who hears say: Florence, and ordained priest in 1968. He holds a licenciate in Biblical Theology and ‘Come’. Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and a doctoral degree in Dogmatic Theology whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of from the Gregorian University of Rome. He the water of life” (Rev 22,17). The presence of taught Sacramental Theology at the Pon- the Holy Spirit is invisible, it operates in silence, tificio Ateneo Sant’Anselmo of Rome and at but it is a silence overflowing with intensity the Gregorian University and was Presi- and vibrations. The epiclesis which distinguishes dent of the Società Italiana per la Ricerca the existence of the conjugal community from Teologica (SIRT). He is presently profes- its inception will then be characterized by the sor in Sacramentology at the Studio Teo- keeping of that “sacred silence” which alone logico Fiorentino in Florence. Publications: makes it possible to receive the “inexpressible” Storia della salvezza e sacramenti,Roma, language of the Holy Spirit (Rom 3,29) in 1976; I sacramenti della fede, Bologna: EDB, 1983; Sacramentaria fondamentale: listening to the word of God and in prayer. Dal “mysterion” al “sacramentum”, Bologna: The gift of the sacrament becomes life, and life EDB, 21990; Per una teologia della corpor- becomes a sacrament. Truly, as St. John Chrysos- eità, Torino: Edizioni Camilliane, 1990; tom says: “Marriage according to Christ is mar- “Universa nostra caritas est eucharistia”, riage according to the Spirit: a true spiritual Bologna: EDB, 1996; Il sacramento della generation”.38 coppia, Bologna: EDB, 1996.

38 Homily on the Epistle to the Ephesians, 20,5 (PG 62, 141).

18 C. Rocchetta

✾

On peut discerner trois perspectives fondamentales dans les tentatives théo- Le mariage comme logiques actuelles pour renouveler la théologie systématique du sacrement de sacrement – mariage, qui a été longtemps appauvrie ou rétrécie dans l’histoire de la théologie. cheminement vers Une première approche tente de se défaire du lourd héritage de la théologie un renouveau du médiévale, pré- et post-tridentine du mariage, en comprenant celui-ci comme concept théologique une vocation. On ne considère plus que le sacrement soit essentiellement un contrat concernant, de manière extérieure, la relation homme-femme, mais l’alliance par Carlo Rocchetta d’amour et de vie qui réalise, de manière intérieure, la structure anthropologique même de l’homme et de la femme. Il faut dès lors le caractériser comme étant Résumé une vocation. Cette manière de voir trouve des appuis décisifs dans le Concile Vatican II qui souligne la structure personnelle mais aussi pleinement ecclésiale du mariage. En effet, la rencontre de l’homme et de la femme arrive à sa pleine réalisation, et reçoit ainsi un caractère sacramentel par le fait que seul le Christ peut donner une personne humaine, qui lui appartient par le baptème, à une autre personne humaine. Ce n’est qu’en Lui et en Son Eglise que peut se réaliser une alliance surnaturelle, une situation de grâce, dans laquelle les deux conjoints peuvent s’appartenir vraiment et pleinement. Ceci explique pourquoi le dispensateur originel du sacrement de mariage est le kyrios glorifié et – en Lui – Son «Corps» ecclésial. Par conséquent, on doit donc aussi comprendre le sacrement de mariage comme un sacrement par lequel l’Eglise se réalise elle-même, elle qui est Sponsa Verbi, étant donné qu’elle y développe son être propre et particulier en tant que sacrement indestructible et victorieux au plan eschato- logique de cette grâce qui a été conférée à l’humanité dans le Christ Jésus. Les époux, en tant que baptisés réalisent et vivent à leur manière ce qui est le propre de l’Eglise, à savoir être signe de l’alliance irrévocable que le Christ a offerte au monde. Aux conjoints par contre, le sacrement confère la nouvelle qualité d’une «vocation commune» qui actualise le baptème, vocation qui les rend capables de se donner l’un à l’autre et qui trouve dès lors sens et plénitude dans l’eucharistie. Par le don qu’ils font d’eux-mêmes l’un à l’autre ils proclament qu’ils se donnent l’un à l’autre en suivant l’exemple du Christ eucharistique et expriment ainsi pour leur part le mystère de l’Eglise, épouse du Christ, et le réalisent. Cette conception comprend le sacrement de mariage comme étant constam- ment «symbole réel» (Realsymbol) ecclésial et signe historique de l’amour irré- vocable de Dieu pour l’humanité. A cela s’ajoute aujourd’hui une deuxième tentative, celle qui consiste à dési- gner le mariage, d’une manière analogue aux trois sacrements qui confèrent un caractère, comme une consécration, et dès lors comme un «sacrement permanent». Si le lien du mariage participe à l’Alliance du Christ et de son Eglise et l’actualise, il élève par conséquent les époux au niveau d’une communion d’un type nouveau et durable avec le Christ et son Eglise. Ainsi Vatican II dit-il que les époux sont «comme consacrés». Aussi parle-t-on également d’un «quasi- caractère», non pas que le mot «quasi» désigne une signification impropre et amoindrie du caractère, mais bien parce qu’il signifie que la réalisation de l’Alliance irrévocable de Dieu concerne les deux conjoints qui sont élevés au niveau d’une nouvelle communauté sacramentelle dans le Christ et son Eglise: il s’agit d’une consécration du lien entre deux personnes humaines et non pas d’un seul homme. La spiritualité du mariage devient ainsi expression d’une sacramentalité qui ne se réfère pas seulement au lien matrimonial mais qui appelle les époux à la sainteté dans la totalité de leur vie commune.

19 IntamsR 2 (1996)

Une telle vue du mariage implique une révision de la conception hylémor- phique du signe sacramentel (matière et forme) et la redécouverte du sens du sacrement en tant que «mystère». Il ressort de ceci qu’il convient d’une part de dégager la question du dispensateur du sacrement de mariage, d’une connotation courante dans la théologie occidentale, et qui prête partiellement à confu- sion, et d’autre part d’élargir la notion de fécondité matrimoniale au-delà du pur aspect biologique. Ainsi se dégage une troisième perspective: le sacrement de mariage comme communio, comme communauté qui a sa source dans l’insondable communio de la Trinité, s’exprimant par le don du Saint Esprit et se déployant dans l’histoire. Puisque le Saint Esprit est le lien d’amour entre le Père et le Fils, son activité et sa présence s’expriment dans le lien d’amour et dans son caractère d’échange mutuel, constituant dès lors les bases de l’amour matrimonial et de son déve- loppement. Grâce au don de l’Esprit-Saint, toute la vie des époux est marquée du mystère trinitaire.

✾

Die Ehe als Drei grundlegende Perspektiven lassen sich in gegenwärtigen theologischen Sakrament – auf Bemühungen um eine Erneuerung einer weithin verarmten bzw. theologiege- dem Weg zu einer schichtlich verengten Systematik des Ehesakraments verfolgen. Erneuerung des Eine erster Ansatz versucht, das schwere Erbe mittelalterlicher, vor- und theologischen nachtridentinischer Ehetheologie abzuschütteln, indem er die Ehe als Berufung Konzepts versteht. Nicht länger ist das Sakrament seinem Wesen nach Vertrag, welcher der Mann-Frau-Beziehung äußerlich begegnet und, sondern der Liebes- von Carlo Rocchetta und Lebensbund, der die anthropologische Struktur von Mann- und Frausein innerlich verwirklicht und so als Berufung bestimmt werden muß. Entscheidende Kurzfassung Hilfestellungen zu dieser Sichtweise hat das II. Vatikanum mit der Betonung der personalen, aber auch der vollen kirchlichen Struktur des Ehegeschehens geliefert. Die Begegnung von Mann und Frau findet nämlich zu ihrer vollen Verwirklichung und erhält somit sakramentalen Charakter, insofern erst Christus einen Menschen, der durch die Taufe ihm übereignet ist, einem ande- ren Menschen schenken kann; nur in Ihm und in Seiner Kirche kann ein übernatürlicher Bund und ein Gnadenstand verwirklicht werden, in dem die beiden Eheleute einander wirklich und vollkommen angehören können. Das erklärt, warum der ursprüngliche Spender des Ehesakramentes der verherrlichte kyrios und – in ihm – sein ekklesialer »Leib« ist. Das Ehesakrament muß dementsprechend auch als Selbstvollzug der Kirche, der Sponsa Verbi, gesehen werden, in dem diese ihr eigenes, besonderes Wesen als unzerstörbares und eschatologisch siegreiches Sakrament jener Gnade verwirklicht, die der Mensch- heit in Jesus Christus geschenkt ist. Als Getaufte verwirklichen und leben die Eheleute das auf ihre Weise nach, was der Kirche eigen ist: das Zeichen-sein für den unwiderruflichen Bund, den Christus der Welt angeboten hat. Für die Eheleute hingegen verleiht das Sakrament die neue Qualität eines die Taufe aktualisierenden »Zusammen-Berufensein«, das zur gegenseitigen Hingabe befähigt und folglich in der Eucharistie Sinn und Erfüllung findet. Indem sie sich gegenseitig hingeben, geben sie damit kund, sich einander nach dem Vorbild des eucharistischen Christus selbst zu schenken: so drücken sie ihrer- seits das Mysterium der Kirche, der Braut Christi, aus und realisieren es.

20 C. Rocchetta

Dieses Konzept begreift das Ehesakrament konsequent als kirchliches Real- symbol und geschichtliches Zeichen der unwiderruflichen Liebe Gottes zur Menschheit. Daran knüpft heute ein zweiter Versuch an, Ehe in Analogie zu den drei Sakramenten, die einen character verleihen, als Weihe und damit als »Dauersa- krament« zu bestimmen. Wenn der Ehebund am Bund zwischen Christus und seiner Kirche partizipiert und diesen vergegenwärtigt, dann erhebt er die Eheleute zu einer neuartigen und dauerhaften Gemeinschaft mit Christus und Seiner Kirche. Das II. Vatikanum spricht davon, daß die Gatten »gleichsam geweiht« werden; so ist auch vom »Quasi-Character« die Rede, wobei »quasi« nicht auf einen uneigentlichen und minderen Sinn von character hinweist, sondern die Realisierung des unwiderruflichen Bundes Gottes in bezug auf die beiden Eheleute bezeichnet, die zu einer neuen sakramentalen Gemeinschaft in Christus und Seiner Kirche erhoben werden: es handelt sich dabei um die Weihe des Bundes zweier Menschen und nicht um die Weihe eines Menschen. Die Spiritualität der Ehe wird so zum Ausdruck einer Sakramentalität, die sich nicht nur auf die eheliche Verbindung bezieht, sondern die die Eheleute aufruft zur Heiligkeit in der Totalität ihres gemeinsamen Lebens. Eine solche Sicht der Ehe impliziert eine Revision der hylemorphistischen Konzeption vom sakramentalen Zeichen (Materie und Form) und die Rückge- winnung eines »mysterienhaften« Sakramentenverständnisses. Von hierher legt es sich auch nahe, einerseits die Frage nach dem Spender-Sein des Ehesakramentes von in der westlichen Theologie gängigen, aber teils mißverständlichen Konnotation zu befreien und anderseits die Bedeutung ehelicher Fruchtbarkeit über den bloß biologischen Aspekt hinaus auszuweiten. Damit zeichnet sich eine dritte Perspektive ab: das Sakrament der Ehe als communio, als eine Gemeinschaft, die in der unergründlichen communio der Dreieinigkeit ihre Quelle hat, diese durch die Gabe des Hl. Geistes zum Ausdruck bringt und in der Geschichte entfaltet. Da der Hl. Geist die liebende Verbindung zwischen Vater und Sohn ist, drücken sich Wirken und Präsenz des Hl. Geistes im Band und in der Wechselseitigkeit der Liebe und daher als Grundlage der ehelichen Liebe und ihrer Entwicklung aus. Dank der Gabe des Hl. Geistes steht das ganze Leben der Gatten unter dem Zeichen des trinitari- schen Mysteriums.

✾

Negli attuali sforzi teologici di rinnovamento di una sistematica del sacra- Il matrimonio come mento matrimoniale, in gran parte impoverita e da un punto di vista storico- sacramento – verso teologico angusta, si possono individuare tre prospettive fondamentali. una rinnovata Un primo approccio tenta di liberarsi dalla pesante eredità della teologia del concettualizazione matrimonio, che va dal medioevo fino a dopo il Concilio di Trento, conce- teologica pendo il matrimonio come vocazione. Il sacramento, nella sua essenza, non è più inteso come accordo che tratta esteriormente della relazione uomo-donna, bensì da Carlo Rocchetta del patto d’amore e di vita, che realizza la struttura antropologica dell’essere interiore dell’uomo e della donna e deve quindi essere considerato come voca- Sommario zione. Il Concilio Vaticano II ha fornito un appoggio decisivo a questo punto di vista con l’accentuazione delle struttura personale, ma anche pienamente ecclesiale dell’evento del matrimonio. L’incontro di uomo e donna, cioè, trova

21 IntamsR 2 (1996)

la sua piena realizzazione e mantiene di conseguenza un carattere sacramentale, in quanto solo Cristo può donare una persona, che si è consegnata a lui attraverso il battesimo, ad un’altra persona; solo in Lui e nella Sua chiesa può realizzarsi un legame soprannaturale e uno stato di grazia, nel quale entrambi gli sposi possono realmente e completamente appartenersi l’un l’altro. Ciò spiega, come mai l’originario donatore del sacramento del matrimonio sia il glorificato kyrios e – in lui – il suo «corpo» ecclesiale. Allo stesso modo, il sacramento del matrimonio deve essere visto come completamento di sè da parte della chiesa, Sponsa Verbi, la quale realizza in esso la sua specifica essenza come indistrutti- bile e escatologicamente vittorioso sacramento di ogni grazia, che è stata donata all’umanità in Gesù Cristo. Come battezzati, gli sposi realizzano e vivono a modo loro, ciò che è proprio della chiesa: l’essere segno del patto irrevocabile, che Cristo ha offerto al mondo. Per quanto riguarda gli sposi, il sacramento conferisce la nuova qualità, capace di rendere attuale il battesimo, della vocazione allo stare insieme, che rende possibile la dedizione reciproca e trova quindi senso e piena attuazione nell’eucaristia. Con il loro consacrarsi reciprocamente, essi rendono noto di donarsi l’un l’altro secondo l’esempio del Cristo eucaristico stesso; così esprimono, per la loro parte, il mistero della chiesa, sposa di Cristo, e lo realizzano. Questo concetto, di conseguenza, concepisce il sacramento del matrimonio come «simbolo reale» (Realsymbol) e segno visibile dell’irrevocabile amore di Dio nei confronti dell’umanità. A questo discorso si riallaccia un secondo tentativo: caratterizzare il matrimonio in analogia con i tre sacramenti, che conferiscono un carattere di consacrazione e di inscindibilità. Se il patto matrimoniale è partecipe del patto tra Cristo e la sua chiesa e lo richiama alle mente, allora eleva gli sposi a un tipo nuovo e duraturo di comunione con Cristo e la sua chiesa. Il Concilio Vaticano II dice in proposito, che i coniugi vengono «in qualche modo consacrati», ciò vale anche per l’espressione «quasi-carattere», dove «quasi» non sta ad indicare un senso improprio e sminuito di «carattere», ma serve a caratterizzare la realizzazione dell’irrevocabile patto di Dio in relazione ad entrambi gli sposi, i quali vengono innalzati ad una nuova, sacramentale comunione in Cristo e la Sua chiesa: in questo caso si tratta della consacrazione del patto di due persone e non della consacrazione di una sola. La spiritualità del matrimonio diventa così espressione di una sacramentalità, che non concerne solo il legame matrimoniale, ma che esorta i coniugi alla santità nella totalità della loro vita in comune. Una tale visione implica una revisione della concezione ilemorfica del segno sacramentale («materia» e «forma») e il recupero di una «misteriosità» della comprensione dei sacramenti. Da qui il passo è breve per giungere, da una parte, alla liberazione da connotazioni correnti, ma in parte equivoche della teologia occidentale, della questione su chi dispensi il sacramento del matrimonio e dall’altra all’estensione del significato di fecondità matrimoniale oltre l’aspetto puramente biologico. Con ciò si delinea una terza prospettiva: il sacramento del matrimonio come communio, come una comunità, che ha come fonte l’imperscrutabile communio della Santissima Trinità, che attraverso il dono dello Spirito Santo trova espressione e si manifesta nella storia. Da questo punto di vista, lo Spirito Santo è il legame d’amore tra Padre e Figlio, il Suo operare e la Sua presenza si esprimono nel vincolo e nella reciprocità dell’amore e quindi come fondamento dell’amore coniugale e del suo realizzarsi. Grazie al dono dello Spirito Santo l’intera vita dei coniugi sta sotto il segno del mistero della Trinità.