Marriage & Heaven

[BarbTherese]

Seems the board formatting in part has changed back............. I hope it is permanent @dUSt. 

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I read the what appears in the quotation box below from the CCC, the wording "perpetual" took me back a bit since we hold that there are no marriages in Heaven as Jesus has said.  How do you read the sections from the CCC on marriage?    It would seem to me that (celibate) Sacramental Marriage continues to exist in Heaven, while "At the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven." (Matthew Ch22) .............i.e new marriages are not contracted in Heaven.

You can read about Marriage in the Vatican text of the CCC here: http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P54.HTM

I hope I am not being heretical because I hope and pray to always hold to and obey what The Church teaches.  It is 12.30am here now and I should have been in bed hours ago but could not (OCD) let go of this subject until I had it out of my head........and hence my disclaimer is that my reasoning is no longer functioning too well, every so often my mind just stops full stop and refuses to reason on until I am able to force it into gear again.

Thinking about things a bit further and if (chaste celibate) Sacramental Marriages continue in Heaven, then Josephite Marriages seem to me to be eschatological and a powerful witness to Heaven as well as the great dignity of human love, most especially sacramental marital human love, which continues in Heaven in its highest form, i.e. chaste celibacy.  A Josephite Marriage to me remains a serious matter not undertaken lightly for sure and wisely only with spiritual direction and knowing what it means.   More thoughts have occured, but I am almost asleep as I type.

What are your thoughts, and if I must be corrected with sound reasons for the correction, I accept and thank you for it.  Mind you, I sure can take some convincing.

Quote

This landed in my Inbox from "Catechism in a Year".........Subscribe: https://flocknote.com/catechism

346. What are the effects of the sacrament of Matrimony?

The sacrament of Matrimony establishes a perpetual and exclusive bond between the spouses. God himself seals the consent of the spouses. Therefore, a marriage which is ratified and consummated between baptized persons can never be dissolved. Furthermore, this sacrament bestows upon the spouses the grace necessary to attain holiness in their married life and to accept responsibly the gift of children and provide for their education.

(I thought I should put this into the Debate Forum, but the water in the DF can get a bit rough.)

Edited July 30, 2019 by BarbaraTherese

[Luigi]

I think "perpetual" and "never be dissolved" refer to "time on earth." We make vows only until "death do us part." If the vows and their bonds extended beyond our time on earth, then a widow(er) who remarried would be living in sin. But the Church permits remarriage after the death of a spouse, so...

Just seems to me...

[Lilllabettt]

The sacrament of matrimony makes a permanent mark on the soul. No power on earth can remove it.

The eastern lung of the Church has long held the traditional belief in "eternal" marriage, transcending death, mirroring the eternal marriage between Christ and His Bride. With some concluding that this would seem to be incompatible with earthly remarriage.  The Church currently permits remarriage, but that is not necessarily the case. 

The correct interpretation of Jesus' words, that we are not given in "marriage" in heaven, is that marriage as we expect it and experience it here within time, does not go on like that in heaven. The Saducees asked Jesus about the woman who is married to 7 brothers because they imagined the awkwardness, jealousy etc. that would entail that situation on earth would continue in heaven. Not so. Rather we are, as Jesus says, like the angels - sinless, in possession of perfectly ordered love. 

In short, marriage has a sacramental character which makes a mark on the soul. In heaven that mark will be "visible" and recognizable.  The bond will be perfected by love into something that is not what we experience or interpret as "marriage" as we know it here on earth, but it will endure. 

Here is a good discussion of the ways in which marriage is eternal:

https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/orthodoxbridge/concerning-eternal-marriage/

"When the Lord spoke to the Sadducees about marriage in heaven (Mt. 22:23-33), He made it clear that “in the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage.” That is, the earthly purposes of marriage, to suppress man’s licentiousness and to procreate, are irrelevant in the Kingdom. All the earthly concerns of a married couple: sexual intercourse, birth-giving, possessions, etc., are part of the “form of this world” which is passing away. “They are like the angels in of God heaven” (Mt. 22:30).

But there is one aspect of marriage that is eternal: “Love never ends” (1 Cor. 13:8). St. John Chrysostom reminds us that married Christians are known to be such in the Judgment and in the Kingdom. We will recognize and delight in our spouses and in our children. We will be restored, not to marriage, but to something better, a union of souls, rather than bodies, a union that begins in marriage and reaches a far more sublime condition (cf. Chrysostom’s Letter to a Young Widow).

This is why the Orthodox Church discourages (but does not prohibit) re-marriage after the death of a spouse. A second or third wedding ceremony (no fourth is allowed) has a somewhat penitential character, recognizing human weakness. St. John urged the young widow to whom he wrote to remain faithful to her husband (the title “husband” is used even after his death), in order to keep alive their bond of love, and eventually to be re-united with him."

Edited July 30, 2019 by Lilllabettt

[Guest]

Thank you both

My thoughts are much in line with Lillabettt. In Heaven, perfected Charity incorporating Chaste Celibacy will be nothing like we can experience or even remotely  imagine here on earth.  Lillabettt: "marriage as we expect it and experience it here within time, does not go on like that in heaven."..........."perfectly ordered love."

If the above is not so, then in the CCC "perpetual" and "never be dissolved" are really misleading and a bad choice of words.  I cannot understand the theologians in The Church who were involved in the writing and editing of the CCC using such truly misleading words.  That is, unless there are some open questions regarding the theology of marriage.

I think too that here on earth married love is something exclusive, however when earthly love is perfected in Heaven it unifies all and is all embracing.

In our Roman Catholic tradition, currently only Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders leave indelible marks on the soul.

Edited July 31, 2019 by BarbaraTherese

[Guest]

Even the quite exclusive love of marital love here on earth speaks to me of the quite exclusive Love of The Lord for every individual person i.e. married love as eschatological.

One of the meanings of the word "marry" is to combine harmoniously, unify.

The absolute genius of God in all His creation can leave me awed beyond measure.

Edited July 31, 2019 by BarbaraTherese