Folia Theologica et Canonica 4. 26/18 (2015)
SACRA THEOLOGIA - Sebastian Walshe, O.Praem., A sacramental theology of the family: the unity and harmony of the sacramental order
122 SEBASTIAN WALSHE, O.PRAEM. The way in which created persons share their lives is imperfect compared to the way in which this takes place in God. Created persons do not live the same, individual life. Their life is shared by way of participation, in which each person somehow lives a part of the life of another, but not the whole of it. Even so, in a profound communion, there is a tendency to share as much of one’s life as possible.22 Imperfect communion strives to be like its divine model to the extent that it is able. This is especially evident in families, in which the father and mother see their own natures and life principle communicated to their children, and children see their lives as being from their father and mother.23 The begetting of children allows one to understand experientially something of the inner life of God. In his Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem, Saint John Paul II forcefully makes the point that we are called to enter into a likeness of the divine communion by asserting the connection between inter-personal communion (especially spousal communion) and the fact that man has been made in the image of God: “Every individual is made in the image of God. insofar as he or she is a rational and free creature capable of knowing God and loving him. Moreover, we read that man cannot exist “alone” (cf. Gen. 2:18); he can exist only as a “unity of the two,” and therefore in relation to another human person. It is a question here of a mutual relationship: man to woman, woman to man. Being a person in the image and likeness of God thus also involves existing in a relationship, in relation to the other “I.” This is a prelude to the definitive self-revelation of the Triune God: a living unity in the communion of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”24 He goes on to say a little later: "The model for this interpretation of the person is God himself as Trinity, as a communion of Persons. To say that man is created in the image and likeness of God means that man is called to exist “for” others, to become a gift.”25 22 This is why, for example, friends like to share memories or photographs of their past lives with one another, prior to the time they first met. It is as if their friend is somehow enabled in this way to go back and live that part of their life with them. 23 I have often seen how becoming a parent transforms the interior life of a Christian. They begin to understand more perfectly how God loves them and provides for them. They are better able to see their relationship with God from God’s perspective. 24 Iohannes Paulus II, Litt. Ap. Mulieris Dignitatem (1988) §7. 25 Ibid.
