Marriage & Holy Orders

More than merely a contract between two people in love, marriage was created by God as part of his plan for humanity. How we fit within that plan may depend on our view of the Sacrament of Matrimony and its profound meaning for the world. Holy Orders, meaning priesthood is another sacrament of service.

Marriage

Time: 7:10

Aquinas taught that, as a sacrament, marriage is a remedy for sin and a cause of grace for the spouses which conforms them to the passion of Christ, not according to its pain, but according to its love (charity). Marriage therefore enables the Christian husband and Christian wife, by grace, to love each other, salvifically. Not as the saviour of the other, but in imitation of the saviour of both: bestowing on each other the love with which Christ loves the Church.

Holy Orders

Time: 7:15

In the natural order, God uses differences and hierarchy among beings for the common good. These differences glorify God's excellence and largess, His ability to create such wondrous diversity. In the supernatural order, God also uses hierarchy for the common good. So, the sacrament of Holy Orders creates sacred ministers, whose role is to build up and sustain the church in the life of grace.