FAITH SHARIT{G

MARRIAGE
by Fr.Augusto M. Pucci, C.R.S.P.

..ITIS NOT
GOODFORMANTOBEALONE.'' Goneis the Christianatmosphere of societl'.The
..WHAT
GODHASPUTTOCETHER
LETNOMAN senseof sin is gone. The influenceof media- TV,
PUTASUNDER'' mol'ies,literature good and garbage- of the so
calledimportantpeopleis overuhelming.young
Thesetwo sentences from the Old and New peoplegrowin a pagansecularculture. Fire and
sections of theBiblearetheinspired foundation of brimstonefromthe pulpit arenot effective.\!hat is
marriage. neededagainis a healthycommunity.popepaul
You well knowhow marriages are in needof VI, the heroof the SecondVaticanCouncilanclof
healing. The numberof marriages that fail is Humantheheroof the SecondVaticanVitae,u,rites
enormous; thenumber of marriages thatarenotas (Evangelii Nunzianzi, lg 20),"FortheChurchit is a
theyshouldbe (the,,goodness" of beingtogether) questionnot onlyof preachingthe Gospelin ever
is evengreater,I amconvinced that therearenot widergeographic areasor to evergreaternumbers
asmanyhappymaniages asthereshouldbe. of people,but also of affecting,and as it rvere
This situationdiscourages youngpeoplefrom upsetting,throughthe powerof the Gospel,man-
enteringinto a lifelongcommitment. Beforethey kind's criteriaof judgment,determiningr,alues,
go in front of the altar to say: ,,1do", theylive points of interest,lines of thought,snurcesof
together to seeif it will work.Statistics showthat inspiration, andmodelsof lifeu'hicharein ctrntrast
thisis nottheease; chances ofsuccess arelowerfor with theWordof Godandtheplanof salvation.All
thosewhotry a non-committed relationship before thiscouldbe expressed u'iththe follorving norcls:
thefinaldecision. '\\hat
mattersis to evangelize humanr:ultures'."
I'm surethat the youngcoupleswhotakethe This is lour responsibilitl' morethan the priests'
marriage preparation course aremoreimpressed by responsibility.
the goodmarriages of the coupleswho givethe tr{arriage is a seriousvocation,marriageis a hard
coursethanby the actualteaching.I encourage vocation, in a waymorethana rocationto thesingle
anyof youwholive a Christiansolid,happyand life or to thepriesthood or to religiouslife,that has
fulfillingmarriage to consider suchanapostolate. to be cultivatedif 1'ouu'antit to flourishandbrin(
Theneedfor it is great. ediblefruits.
Aftermarriage, the youngcouplegoesits orvn I askthosewhohavebeencalledto thisvor.at.ion
way.Thetimeof anextended familyis gone.The to renen'toda1'their sacredrorvsandexaminetheir
newlymarriedcan rely onlyon their ownloving c'onscience to see if thel have neglectedtheir
strength to handletheirproblems. It wouldbea commitment.Thereis no doubtthat marriageis a
greathelpif someoldercouples could,duringthe holv conditionof life u'henw'econsiderthat the
first fiveyearsof maniageof the newlpveds, keep Biblefindsin marriage theexpression of God'slove
in contactonce0r twicea yearwiththem,to hear for his peopleand Christ'slove for his Church.
howthingsaregoingandgivethemanexperienced JesusChristis thebridegroom that uniteshunruit.r'
handrriththeproblems thataccompany thisperiod u'ith the dirinitvin the eternalbanqueru'henour
of adaptation to eachother. marriage u.ithGoduill be celehmted.
Ilarried peoplecan do better than a priest klve is the onecommandment of Jesusbecause
because witnessing is moreeffective thanpreach. Godis loveandJesusis the Sacredlleartsrmbolof
ing. PopePaul VI said on severaloccasions love:if marriage- the sacrament of love- fails,the
"modernpe0plelistenmorewillinglyto witnesses existence of Christianitfis at stakeas u'ell.
thanto teachers, andiftheylistento teachers, it is It is a questionof not onl1'sat'ing 1,ourmaniage
because theyarefirstof all witnesses". (Evangelii but of saringyour Christianculture.
Nunzianzi,
4l ),
] I t v O I C L ' I A N . F T B .I,9 8 9