A Bonding Beauteous
We lived across the street from St. Agatha's church in Milton, Massachusetts when I was a boy. Over time we noticed that little old ladies used to come to watch weddings. They'd sit in the back or on the side and enjoy it all no end. Presumably they were happily married, else they would not likely seek to revive old and sweet memories in seeing young love of today set out on a life together.
Christ's first public sign was at the wedding in Cana, when at the suggestion of His Mother, and His Father's concurring Will, He supplied wine for want of enough for more guests than were anticipated. The significance of the episode does not escape us.
The three espousals of Christ are at work here. His marriage to Israel as His bride. His marriage to the Church, the new Israel. His marriage to every Christian soul in a union of love.
As in Hosea, speaking of Israel, God says:
"So I will allure her. I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart... I will espouse you to Me forever. I will espouse you in right and in justice, in love and in mercy. And you shall know the Lord."In Vatican II's Lumen Gentium we read:
—Hosea 2:14; 19-20
The Church, "that new Jerusalem which is above," is also called "our Mother" (Gal. 4:26). She is described as the spotless spouse of the spotless Lamb (Apoc.19:7). She it was whom Christ "loved and delivered Himself up for her that He might sanctify her" (Eph. 5:26), whom He unites to Himself by an unbreakable covenant, and whom He unceasingly "nourishes and cherishes" (Eph. 5:29). Once she had been purified, He willed her to be joined unto Himself and to be subject to Him in love and fidelity (Eph. 5:24). Finally, He filled her with heavenly gifts for all eternity, in order that we might know the love of God and of Christ for us, a love which surpasses all knowledge (Eph. 3:19)."What was said of Israel and of the Church is said again of the individual. In baptism one becomes a spouse of the Holy Spirit. Christian initiation is a spousal bonding with Christ. From the time of Origen, the Canticle of Canticles [Song of Songs] has been interpreted, in a spiritual sense, as describing both the union of Christ with the Church, and the loving union of the individual person with Christ or the Holy Trinity." (New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, p.63)
—Lumen Gentium I:6
Marriage, in the words of one theologian, has a threefold aspect: marriage involves solitude, it involves commitment to another, marriage involves generativity. (David Thomas in the New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, p.64).
This surely applies to the monk in his union with Christ and the Church through his vows.
The elemental solitude of the person is forever. We are, as God is. We are immortal, as God is. We are unique, as God is. Granted our being, our immortality, our uniqueness is limited, they are for all that genuine dimensions of the human. And in our life together with Christ and one another in Church and in community, we remain unique. This is a truth not merely accepted, but to be realistically dealt with. It is an operating function of our being. We came alone, we depart alone. And we live alone, even if in the bonds of a commitment.
The element of permanent commitment is basic to marriage, and so too to our love for Christ, His Church, our community. Christ loves His spouse and does so forever. Nothing will change that, even if at times some member be unworthy. So too our love for Him, for Church, for community, is a binding, a bonding that is beauteous because it is abiding. Divorce and separation and dispensation not withstanding, it is the dimension of permanence that is the essential beauty — the fidelity of the individual to the loving God, spouse of his soul, lover of His Heart.
The threefold quality of marriage — solitude, commitment, generativity — are characteristic also of the soul's union with God.
For we remain forever who we are, engaged in a commitment that is deep and everlasting, and the union is fruitful for our good and the good of all.
At Cana Christ gave expression to this. The second sacrament: Baptism, and then human and divine union.
We are not like little old ladies, but notwithstanding, old monks enjoy the entrance, the clothing, the vows of the newcomer. Life goes on. The birth of grandchildren is perhaps a deeper experience for the old couple then it is for the actual parents by reason of years of committed love that was at once solitary, communal, and creative.
Well, no doubt the wine will one day be blood, but we can meanwhile nonetheless rejoice in the Bridegroom Who is the Source of eternal joy. Amen.
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