Kara & Gene's Wedding
When the bridesmaids, in their bright red gowns, entered the Church to the notes of The Prince of Denmark's March, my heart felt a little lurch of excitement. Something very important was underway.
St. Thomas of Villanova is a relatively small Church. Its current motif combines quite well much of the new with the old in Catholic Church design. The people, family and friends had gathered into a sizeable group, which was ready for a wedding. And, indeed, they witnessed a memorable wedding.
Catholic marriage is a sacrament. It is not merely marriage but The Sacrament of Matrimony. The Sacrament of Matrimony is usually conferred as part of a nuptial Mass. Central to the Mass is the Sacrament of the Eucharist (often referred to as Holy Communion) when the Body and Blood of the crucified Christ is offered to the faithful.
A sacrament communicates grace to the soul. Grace is the supernatural gift that God bestows on people for their eternal salvation.
St. Thomas Aquinas has told us that “Since all the faithful form one body, the good of each is communicated to the others. . . . We must therefore believe that there exists a communion of goods in the Church.”
A Catholic wedding is not a private affair but a public witnessing, a public commitment and a sharing of grace by all. The Church teaches that the entire body of Christ (Christ, the Church and its people) is richer for the commitment of this marriage and the grace flowing from it. Kara and Gene, with their marriage vows, have enriched all of us.
A Catholic wedding flows from ancient Tradition. It is Tradition (with a big T) based on the lives and the experience of that very famous married couple, Sarah and Abraham and their Hebrew children along with
all these have provided the basis for the liturgy of Kara and Gene's wedding and the commitment flowing from that wedding.
Of course, a Catholic marriage is about love and happiness. As an Augustinian, the celebrant of Kara and Gene's wedding liturgy, Fr. O'Leary, is likely to agree with St. Augustine who taught that happiness flows from the perfect good: God. The Saint teaches that the way to happiness is to love God. This is the charity taught and inspired by Christ.
Charity born of faith is the principal Christian virtue. Augustine saw the four Cardinal Virtues taught by the ancient philosophers as simply four forms of Christian charity as follows:
The grace of God flowing from the Sacraments of Matrimony and the Eucharist are provided for our salvation. The Church has always taught that a faithful marriage is a powerful means toward salvation. Virtue is definitely required in living a faithful marriage. I'm sure that we all wish mountains of such virtue flowing to and from the new couple.