Marriage Covenant in Catholic Doctrine: The Pastoral Constitution on the Church Gaudium et Spes — the Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio ...
Marriage Covenant in Catholic Doctrine: The Pastoral Constitution on the Church Gaudium et Spes — the Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio ...

Summary/Abstract: The author, already in his title, defines the framework for the exposition of an important theological as well as legal issue: namely, that of the presence of the “marriage covenant” concept in the contemporary Catholic de matrimonio doctrine. An analysis of the most significant source “spots” (in Second Vatican Council documents and post-council magisterium) confirms an initial hypothesis claiming that the starting point for analyzing the mentioned doctrine should be the truth that the Triune God-Creator of the Institution of Marriage is the true Creator of each particular marriage. In the legal-canonical dimension this truth reached its full shape in the Code of Eastern Church Canons (1990). Here, the perfectly emphasized religious dimension of the covenant of marital love allowed the Catholic Church legislator to attain two essential prophetic-didactic purposes: firstly, it allowed him to show the Christ-Church relationship rooted in Divine Caritas as an icon of the communion –covenant of marital love (communio caritatis) put into effect in the Christian marriage; secondly, it allowed him to reveal the trinitary foundation of the Sacrament of Matrimony. From this perspective, the sacramental relationship between the man and woman reveals itself as a sign and tool of participation in the Life of the Persons of the Holy Trinity, or a relationship that in Love finds its deepest foundation.

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