![]() ![]() 99 Without his help man and woman cannot achieve the union of their lives for which God created them "in the beginning."ġ609 In his mercy God has not forsaken sinful man. To heal the wounds of sin, man and woman need the help of the grace that God in his infinite mercy never refuses them. 98ġ608 Nevertheless, the order of creation persists, though seriously disturbed. Their relations were distorted by mutual recriminations 96 their mutual attraction, the Creator's own gift, changed into a relationship of domination and lust 97 and the beautiful vocation of man and woman to be fruitful, multiply, and subdue the earth was burdened by the pain of childbirth and the toil of work. As a break with God, the first sin had for its first consequence the rupture of the original communion between man and woman. This disorder can manifest itself more or less acutely, and can be more or less overcome according to the circumstances of cultures, eras, and individuals, but it does seem to have a universal character.ġ607 According to faith the disorder we notice so painfully does not stem from the nature of man and woman, nor from the nature of their relations, but from sin. Their union has always been threatened by discord, a spirit of domination, infidelity, jealousy, and conflicts that can escalate into hatred and separation. This experience makes itself felt in the relationships between man and woman. ![]() 93 "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh." 94 The Lord himself shows that this signifies an unbreakable union of their two lives by recalling what the plan of the Creator had been "in the beginning": "So they are no longer two, but one flesh." 95ġ606 Every man experiences evil around him and within himself. And this love which God blesses is intended to be fruitful and to be realized in the common work of watching over creation: "And God blessed them, and God said to them: 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.'" 91ġ605 Holy Scripture affirms that man and woman were created for one another: "It is not good that the man should be alone." 92 The woman, "flesh of his flesh," his equal, his nearest in all things, is given to him by God as a "helpmate" she thus represents God from whom comes our help. It is good, very good, in the Creator's eyes. 90 Since God created him man and woman, their mutual love becomes an image of the absolute and unfailing love with which God loves man. For man is created in the image and likeness of God who is himself love. "The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life." 89ġ604 God who created man out of love also calls him to love the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being. Although the dignity of this institution is not transparent everywhere with the same clarity, 88 some sense of the greatness of the matrimonial union exists in all cultures. These differences should not cause us to forget its common and permanent characteristics. Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures, and spiritual attitudes. God himself is the author of marriage." 87 The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator. 86ġ603 "The intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state has been established by the Creator and endowed by him with its own proper laws. . . THE SACRAMENTS AT THE SERVICE OF COMMUNIONġ601 "The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament." 84ġ602 Sacred Scripture begins with the creation of man and woman in the image and likeness of God and concludes with a vision of "the wedding-feast of the Lamb." 85 Scripture speaks throughout of marriage and its "mystery," its institution and the meaning God has given it, its origin and its end, its various realizations throughout the history of salvation, the difficulties arising from sin and its renewal "in the Lord" in the New Covenant of Christ and the Church. Catechism of the Catholic Church - PART 2 SECTION 2 CHAPTER 3 ARTICLE 7 CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ![]()
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