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

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SEBASTIAN WALSHE, O.PRAEM.

Christ through the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist, not only human individuals, but also the family is made partaker of the divine life of Jesus. The sacraments extend the power of Christ's Incarnation and communicate it to human souls through bodily and outward signs. “Just as the living Father sent me and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on me will have life because of me.”27 Hence, we enter into the communion of the Trinitarian life through the instrumentality of the Incarnation and the sacraments. In this way, we become members of God’s family, children of the Father and bothers and sisters of the Son.28

The Incarnation is both a sign which reveals and allows us to enter into the Trinitarian communion, and something signified by through the communion which exists within a human family. Marriage, which is the foundational relationship of communion within a family, is itself a sacrament of the union of the divine and human in the Incarnation: "The Christian conjugal bond (...) represents the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation.”29 There are many likenesses between sacramental marriage and the hypostatic union which make the former a fitting sign of the latter. First, both are unions between different yet complementary elements. Second, as the divine and human are united in a single person, so in a similar manner the union of marriage forms one “moral person;”30 so much so that the Scriptures many times assert that they become “one flesh.”31 Third, just as in marriage one man is united to one woman, so in the hypostatic union, one divine nature is united to one human nature. Fourth, just as the union between spouses in marriage is effected by the consent of the spouses, so also a certain consent was given at the Incarnation.32 Fifth, both unions are indissoluble. Sixth, marriage is a union in which spouses share a life. So too in the Incarnation, the human and divine natures share a life, as I have described above. Seventh,

27 Jn 6:57.

2S Cf. Jn 1:12.

29 Familiáris Consortia, 13.

30 Of course, there is a dissimilarity here between marriage and the Incarnation to the extent that in a marriage the union is between two physical persons, as St. Gregory cautions: “But far be it from us to conclude that because marriage takes place between two separate persons, that therefore the Person of our Redeemer was made up of two separate persons.” On the Gospels (Mt 22:1-13), n.3.

31 Cf. Gen 2:24; Matt 19:6; Mk 10:8; Eph. 5:31 ; and 1 Cor 6:16. In its primary sense, this assertion can be taken to mean that according to the inclination of the will, spouses are inclined to treat one another as they do their own bodies (cf. Eph. 5:28-29). In a secondary sense, it may also be taken to refer to the effect of their union, namely children, who unite in themselves, the flesh of their parents.

32 S. Thomae Aquinatis, Summa Theologica, Ilia q. 30 art. 1 : "It was fitting that the conception of Christ be announced to the blessed Virgin (...) in order to manifest a certain spiritual matrimony between the Son of God and human nature. And therefore, through the Annunciation the consent of the Virgin was sought on behalf of all human nature.”