Latest / The Uncensored Catholic / Show 238: Holy Matrimony, part 2

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Show 238: Holy Matrimony, part 2 · The Uncensored Catholic

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Speaker 1: You're all welcome this week's show. I hope everybody's getting
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prepared for the bad winter weather. Just tuck in, try
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it to go out. Look, I mean, we're gonna have
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ice for like twenty four hours from Saturday night through
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Sunday night. I'm not going to Mass. God does not
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want you to go to Mass and risk your life.
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Stay home, okay, do an act spiritual communion. Watch Mass
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on EWTN. If you really want to see a fantastic mass.
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Pull up Saint Mary's Church in Heartsville. I think Saint Mary,
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Mother of God, or I think that's a full name. No,
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Saint Mary Virgin Mother of Christ in Heartsville. Father Dan,
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Father Dan Popino. But he'll blow your mind. I mean,
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I've told you many times, this is the guy you
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want to watch. Okay. This is the priest who has
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been to heaven and spoken with Mary and Jesus. Okay,
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he was married and a child who died when he
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was younger, became a priest. He's been to heaven and
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spoken with him. I mean it will change your life.
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Pull him up on YouTube. Stay home, stay safe, Okay.
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You do not need to go driving in ice. If
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nobody shows up, the priest doesn't have to go out either.
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He can stay home and everybody will be nice and
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safe and warm. So let's go make that a goal.
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I cannot stand it when I go to Mass and
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like there'll be a whole family sitting right beside me
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or behind me in a pew with the flu. And
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it's like someone in that family is, you know, a
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task master. They're making them go to church. The catechism
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the church says, don't get a Mass when you're sick.
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Why shouldn't you get a mass when you're sick, because
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you can get other people sick and your little cold
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or flu may kill a person with a bad respiratory system.
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Stay home, be responsible. Don't kill you fellow Catholics because
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you're too proud. That's a sin, that's a pride of sin.
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Don't do it. And if your husband or wife is,
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you know, really super stubborn in that regard, explain to
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them you're going to kill somebody, and that's on you.
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You could go to hell because you forced our family
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to go to church today. Don't do that. All right,
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So now let's talk about our subject for the week.
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We'll start with a few questions and answers from radio replies,
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and then we'll get back into the sacrament of matrimony
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and it's be very interesting, but we'll start with actually confirmation.
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The questioner asked the priest what is confirmation? And they answer,
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confirmation is a sacrament instituted by Jesus Christ as a
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compliment to baptism. As there is a sacrament of spiritual birth,
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so is so there is so there is a sacrament
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of spiritual virility, conftering the grace required for growth and goodwill, fidelity,
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and Christian courage. As does the New Testament say that
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Christ institute the sacrament? They say, not explicitly, but we
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know that the apostles confer the gift of the Holy
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Spirit by laying on of hands in a sacramental right
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distinct from baptism, as explained by Acts eight fourteen through seventeen.
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They would not have confirmed the faithful by this distinct
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right unless they had been commissioned to do so by Christ.
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Christian tradition and the authoritative, authoritative teaching of the Catholic
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Church are also absolute guarantees that confirmation is a genuine sacrament,
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a Christian sacrament. Person asks, is confirmation absolutely necessary for salvation.
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The answer no, but it would be wrong and sinful
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to neglect it through indifference. Christ certainly did not institute
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the sacrament needlessly, and confers graces of the utmost use
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in the spiritual life, rendering us stronger in the struggle
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for virtue and therefore rendering our salvation. The more assured
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person asks what is confession? They say, Confession is sacraments
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too by Jesus Christ, by which those who fall into
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sin after baptism may be restored to God's grace. Confession
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is called the sacrament of penance because it supposes that
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the recipient is truly repentant of his sins. It involves
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the admission of one's sins made to a duly approved
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priest in order to obtain its absolution. Person asks, all
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men are created equal, how can a priest set himself
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above others and presume to be their judge? And they answer,
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all men equally share a common humanity, but all are
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not But not all are equal in the office and responsibility. Also,
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no man could have the right to set himself above
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others in this matter if Christ had not endowed his
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priests with the power to forgive sins. They could not
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possess it, but He endowed them with his power, and
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they forgive sins not in their own name, but in
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the name of Christ. A criminal has to answer to
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the state for his crimes against civil law. How then,
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can a fellow's citizen act as judge and pass sentence
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upon him capacity he is delegated by the state and
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acts in the name of the state. Now Christ died
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to pay the price for our sins, he surely has
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the right to say how forgiveness should be applied. We
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cannot deny the right of Christ to administer forgiveness through
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agents of his own choosing. Nor can we insist that
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we must forgive, that He must forgive us on our conditions,
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while we ignore his conditions. And the person says, we
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believe Protestants believe that we Protestants believe that God alone
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can forgive sins, And they answer that as a Catholic
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teaching also, But the question concerns the way in which
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God has chosen to administer that forgiveness. We Catholics add
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that God can forgive delegate his power if he wishes,
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just as the supreme authority of the state can delegate
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a judge to administer justice. Would you deny God that power?
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And the person continues, but can you prove that God
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did that delegate that power to man? They say yes,
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obviously if you know you're Bible. Yes, Christ was God.
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And in Saint John twenty twenty one through twenty three
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we read these remarkable words, as the Father has has
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sent me, May I send you as the Father has
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sent me, I send you a sip of water. Here
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now the whole glass, just a sip. I'll start again,
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as the Father has sent me, I send you. When
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he said this, he breathed on them and he said
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to them, receive you the Holy Ghost, who sends you forgive,
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They are forgiven. Who sends you retain, they are retained.
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Now Christ's mission was to destroy sin, and he gave
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this mission to his apostles, knowing that they're merely human
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powers men was quite insufficient. He gave them a special
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communication of the Holy Spirit for this special work. To
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say that Christ did not confer a true power to
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forgive sin is to rob the whole ceremony in the
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words of Christ with any real meaning. And it was
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obviously a power to be exercised. Christ applying to the
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apostles for forgiveness. The person says, give me one instance
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where any apostle ever forgave sin, And they said, Saint
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Paul certainly exercises power of binding and loosing from sin
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and the effects of sin. In the case of the
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incestuous Corinthian, in First Corinthian five to three, we find
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him saying I have already judged him that hath done so.
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And his Second Corinthians two ten he justifies this forgiveness
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of the man by saying, if I have pardoned anything,
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I have done it in the person of Christ. Person continues,
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I believe that the apostles received this power, but it
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was for them only and has not been handed on
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to them in the church. The answer Christ commissions to
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his church to teach all nations to the end of
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the world. The apostles had to hand on all essential
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powers to their successors and to the conditions of salvation.
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Must be the same for us as for the first Christians.
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If those subject to the apostles had to obtain forgiveness
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from their fellow men, there is no reason why we
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should be exempt. We share the same privileges as the
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early Christians and must have the same obligations. Till the Reformation,
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all Christians went to confession. In the fourteenth century, we
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find Saint Ambrose defending confession by saying that if a
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man can for be of sin by baptism, he claims
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nothing greater when he claims the power to forgive sin
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through the sacrament of penance, that priests possessed. Such a
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power was Christian doctrine in his time, and is still
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the doctor of the Catholic Church. The Greek Church, which
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broke away from the Catholic Church of the ninth century,
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has retained this Apostolic practice. Protestantism gave up the practice
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in the sixteenth century because it was uncomfortable and mortifying.
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But once admit such a principle, and one could abolish
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every uncomfortable commandment of God. Person continues forgiveness through the
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mediation of a priest, as opposed to the Doctor of
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Christ as the only mediator and the answer. One mediator
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redeemed us. The priest does not redeem us, but he
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is an a credited agent of the one mediator. Confession is
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but one way of applying the mediation of Christ to men,
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as baptism is another. And if baptism is a sacrament
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for the destruction of sin, which we did ourselves not commit,
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but which we inherited from Adam. Another sacrament is most
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fitting for the destruction of sin, which we do personally
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commit after our baptism. Christ certainly thought so, and institute
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the sacrament of confession. If you believe in one mediator,
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so do we. But we listened to that one mediator
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and do as he commanded us. And I'll wrap it
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up with one more. We'll continue with this subject in
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the next show. But the person says, what is wrong
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with confessing our sins directly to God in prayer? And
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the answer, Since it is God who has been offended,
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God has the right to lay down the conditions to forgive.
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For the conditions of forgiveness, you cannot insist that God
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must forgive you on your own conditions. And Christ certainly
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did not give his priest to forgive sins, knowing that
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no one would have to seek forgiveness from priests at all. Yes,
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Protestants say that priests can't forgive sins. The Bible say
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it can, say they can. Protests say the Bible is
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their sole authority. You point out to them in John
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where it says that Jesus gave his apostles the power
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forgive sins. And they either say they'd never read that
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before they just don't believe it. You cannot square that
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circle anyway. Now, moving on to matrimony, and we are
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on the subject of impediments to matrimony from Father Sparrago's
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exhaustive explanation of the Catechism of the Catholic Charts from
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the eighteen nineties, and he says a marriage can only
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be concluded in the absence of all impediments to it.
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The impediments may be such as to nullify marriage, or
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such as to render it unlawful. Were those that render
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marriage null or invalid? Are coercion defective? Age? Consanguin, consanguin consanguinity.
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That's a hard one to pronounce. Consanguinity, Okay, it means
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you're related. It actually means sheared blood. Consanguinity. Is that right? No?
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I put extra you are here. Consanguinity. There we go,
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and affinity and previous marriage tie existing the greater degrees
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of Holy orders. The Solemn vows the prohibition concerning marriage
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of Catholics with unbaptized persons. Did you know until very recently,
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a Catholic was not allowed to marry a very an
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unbaptized person. Now it takes special permission. We'll get into
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that probably a later time, but I still I believe
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it still requires the permission of the bishop. But essentially
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the couple has to go through Catholic marital counseling and
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promise in writing that the children will be raised Catholic,
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and then essentially a special allowance can be made for
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a Catholic to marry a non Christian. Still is not
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ideal and is still discouraged, and I don't think many
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people know that. So and we can see that the
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reason why I could pick several public figures whose one
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parent was Jewish and one parent was Catholic, who married
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and they agreed to raise the children Catholic. The Jewish
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parent then changed their mind and the child actually grew
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up agnostic or atheistic, very rarely Jewish or Catholic. Several
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come to mind. I won't name names, but you would
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know their names anyway. So we'll start with coercion. If
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undu stress is brought to bear on a man, if
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he is forced in a marrying someone against his will
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by threats of personal injury or fear of being disinherited,
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his marriage is invalid. Defective age Boys under the age
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of fourteen and girls under the age of twelve cannot
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enter the whiplock boy wow, huh. I remember this is
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the eighteen nineties and this is the extreme limit. At
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this time, people around age of fourteen fifteen got married
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pretty commonly. Yeah, fourteen, I mean, you know, I learned
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herbal medicine from the Hicks family of Beach Mountain. Ray
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was twenty seven, Rosy was fourteen. They had a good marriage,
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raised five kids, maybe seven, I can't remember. I'm trying
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to It doesn't matter. Good family. Kids grew up well, good, strong, healthy,
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happy people. They lived together until each of them passed
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away within a year of each other in their late eighties.
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Does that shock you It may, you know, my grandparents
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were sixteen and fourteen. In our day and time, young
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marriage is discouraged and like frowned upon, like nothing else.
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That really shouldn't be the case. People used to grow
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up a lot earlier and be much better citizens. Catholics
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parents have happier lives, longer lives. Actually, our birthrate and
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our lifespan is decreasing. With the really the idea that
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only got going in about the nineteen forties fifties that
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people should wait until after college or getting established in
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a career to get married. Loretta Lynn was fourteen when
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she got married, if I remember correctly, she loved her husband,
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do he had his issues. He was much older, but
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she had over heels about him until the day died.
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You know, I don't have an answer on that. I
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honestly wish I had gotten married much earlier. I am
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now forty eight years old, and I have never met
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the right woman because I probably well, I was taught
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and told not to even consider a marriage until after college.
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And by the time I got out of college, you know,
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it took a few years of starting my career. I
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couldn't do a lot of dating, had financial issues, and
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you know, I'll probably never get married now, And that
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makes me more sad than anything else in my life,
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because that was the one thing I wanted more than anything,
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was a wife and children. Yeah, there was there was
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a girl when I was seventeen, eighteen years old. She
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was a year or two younger than me, and we
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could have married and probably been very very happy. Right now,
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and you know, who knows. Maybe I wasn't Catholic at
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the time. Maybe I wouldn't have been moved to convert.
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Maybe my life would have been focused on providing for
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a family. I don't know why things happen. But when
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we look at this and we say that in eighteen
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ninety these rather extreme age limits were set in place,
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it wasn't uncommon at the time. The idea that young
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people can't marry and start families has only become common
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in our time, and really in only the past few decades,
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and as it has happened, our society has fallen apart. Dude.
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It's now more common for children to be born out
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of wedlock or for their parents to divorce before their
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age five than it is for children to be raised
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by two parents. And I mean by huge numbers. I
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don't mean it's just like fifty one to fifty. I
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mean it's like only about a third of kids get
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to grow up in a two parent household. It was
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also common in the eighteen nineties for that young couple
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to continue marrying, living after marriage in one of the
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parents' households, so the kids would grow up with grandparents
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right there helping and teaching multi generational households. No, I
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don't think this idea of the eternal adolescent who's still
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on their parents' insurance into their late twenties, who can't
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buy a house into their forties, who never gets married
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and started so family is the ideal at all. It
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certainly wasn't my choice. It wasn't what I wanted. It
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wasn't what I wanted at all. But in all honesty,
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I wasn't really given much of a choice. I was told,
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you will not marry until after college and you start
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your career and all that, and I converted to Catholicism
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in college, and my dad disinherited me, disowned me. I
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was really very much financially on my own at that point,
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and I just didn't well, I wasn't around many Catholics.
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There weren't many Catholic young women to date where I live.
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And yep, now you know here it is twenty years later,
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and there still weren't many single Catholics to date between
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the ages of eighteen and eighty. I can pretty well
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provide for family now, But what the hell does it matter? Yeah,
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that door she got shut in my face, and yeah,
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I mean I probably did have a pretty good chance
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in my teens. And you know, what are you gonna do?
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So be shocked by what feather Spirago said, or look
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at the reality of the situation, which is our great
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grandparents got married young and stayed married and lived long
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lives and had many children and many grandchildren and many
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great grandchildren and got to know them and being influenced
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their lives. And that doesn't happen anymore. Now. Everybody's you know, single, divorced,
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on depression, anxiety meds, whatever. I'm not, you know, but
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actually the majority of single women between the ages of
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eighteen and forty are on medic medication for anxiety and depression.
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The majority of men are usually drinking heavily and using
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illicit drugs. Take it or leave it. This whole wait
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to get married thing really didn't work out for us.
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I mean, I know a lot of people are gonna
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listen to this and you're gonna say you're an idiot. Well, okay,
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maybe I am. You're taking your experience and you know
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saying it applies to well, maybe I am. Sorry. I
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can tell you I could real off dozens of young
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ladies I've dated over the past twenty years who are beautiful, attractive, educated, intelligent, successful,
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and are now entering their forties and fifties, unmarried and childless.
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You know, what are you gonna do? People used to
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get married in their teens, and the world was a
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better place anyway you look at the world was a
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better place anyway. So consanguine. Consanguinity means shared blood. Let's
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just go with that. Sanguine comes from the Latin for
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blood sanguinis i guess khan, meaning joined. A papal dispensation
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is required for the marriage of first cousins. In the
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case of more remote relationship, episcopal dispensation is sufficient. The
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voice of nature condemns the union of persons nearly related
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to one another and their offspring are not unfrequently physically
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or mentally afflicted. Affinity is a result of affinity. Another
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cause for not allowing people to get married is the
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result of a previous marriage. The survivor cannot espouse the
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blood relations of the deceased party, and that a man
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cannot marry the mother or a sister or daughter by
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former husband of his deceased wife, and vice versa. So
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by no but no affinity exists between blood relations of
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the several parties. For instance, a man may marry the
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sister of his brother's wife. Okay, so yeah, you can
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marry your sister in law. You cannot marry your niece
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previous marriage. Man has previous marriage. It has already been
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explained that one of the parties to a marriage cannot
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marry again during the lifetime of another. Should a woman
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believe her husband to be dead have married again, she
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must immediately leave her second husband if she discovers him
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to still be living. It used to happen a lot,
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you know. A man would go off to war, he
23:11
was reported dead, she'd remarried, he'd come home. Boom, she's
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married again. Holy orders and religious vowels, Clerics who have
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received deacons or subdeacons, orders, and monks and nuns who
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have taken vows of celibacy cannot enter upon the married
23:28
state or difference of creed. A Christian cannot, without dispensation
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from the Holy See, be married to a Jew, a Mohammedan,
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as a Muslim, or any other unbeliever. No, that's not
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really the case anymore, I explained that. But it used
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to be considered much graver matter, and probably still should be. Actually,
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and really It's usually not a good idea for a
23:55
Catholic to mary a Protestant, unless the Catholic is the
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stronger personnel who can convince the Protestant. There are besides
24:04
impedients of a purely ecclesiastical nature, such as spiritual affinity
24:08
contracted in baptism and confirmation. These are not recognized by
24:13
the state, and therefore the Church rarely grants the dispization
24:15
if required. That's what I mean about marrying Protestants. The
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impediments that render marriage unlawful are the prohibition in regard
24:24
to certain times diversity of religious belief be troth those
24:28
simple vows complete ignorance of religious truth. The times when
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marriages cannot be celebrated are from the beginning of Advent
24:36
into the Epiphany, and from ash Wednesday unto a low
24:39
Sunday diversity of religious belief marriages between Catholics and non
24:43
Catholics Protestants old Catholics, it's old Catholics. You won't really
24:51
find that terminology very often these days, but it was
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once fairly common in Russia and certain areas, sort of
25:01
like quasi Orthodox, we can put it that way, and
25:06
really athletic. The set of Acanist movement got going. A
25:08
lot of them associated with Old Catholics and non uni
25:12
At Greeks, which would also be Orthodox, can only be
25:16
permit under certain conditions. Betrothed to anyone who has pledged
25:20
his troth to one person cannot marry until the previous
25:24
engagement has broken off. You know, it actually used to
25:26
be illegal. You could not proposed marriage to someone and
25:32
then not marry them. You would go to jail. And
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I'm talking that was the truth. Well into the fifties.
25:38
It was called a breach of promise. And yeah, I
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mean you literally could go to jail for proposing marriage
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and not following through with it. Pretty amazing in our
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day and time to realize that simple vowels, vowels which
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are not solemn voutlets such as vows of perpetual chastis
26:01
and celibacy about an annual religious order become a priest
26:04
or a hindrance to marriage. Ignorance of religious truth. Those
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who are about to marry must, if they are ignorant
26:11
of the fundamental truths of religion, place themselves under instruction
26:15
for some time previously, Otherwise they would be unable to
26:18
teach their children and the element of Christian religion hints
26:21
as usual for the priests to question those who announced
26:25
to him their purpose of marriage about the truth of religion, and,
26:28
if necessary, instruct them in the duties and obligations of
26:31
the married state. Impediments of a purely civil nature. These
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can include military service, recent widowhood, certain minority issues. Again,
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this is civil, this is not church. But in some
26:47
states miners cannot marry without consent of their father or
26:51
if he be dead, of that of a magistrate. That's
26:56
true in the United States. Now. I believe if you're
26:58
under eighteen, I think you can have your bits cut
27:02
off and call yourself trans You can have an abortion,
27:04
get a tattoo. No, you can't get a tattoo into
27:07
you're eighteen. You can't drink until you're twenty one. But
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I do think it's just if you're under eighteen, you
27:14
still do have to get permission to marry. Weird, huh.
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Soldiers the term of whose military service is not expired. Yeah,
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in many countries it was said that soldiers were not
27:24
allowed to marry while they were in service. Not really
27:27
the case of the United States. But they must have
27:29
a sanction of the government officials widows and widowers should
27:33
allow an interval to elapse before concluding a secret matrimony
27:36
and all alliance. The several regulations in regard to matrimony
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must be observed not from fear of penalties incurred by
27:44
violating them, but for God's sake, since the secular powers
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are ordained of God Romans thirteen one. Now remember this
27:52
was before the Communist revolutions. I'm sure Spoler Spiarago would
27:56
have spoken very differently had he known and the Soviet
28:01
Union was about to come about and take over his
28:05
home country of Czechoslovakia and basically outlaw many Catholic customs
28:12
and practices and make everything civil. You know. But anyway,
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this rule would not hold good if decrees of legislatures
28:20
were opposed to the commandments of God. And there you go,
28:24
the Soviets, the Communists, their decrees were opposed to the
28:28
commandments of God. So he says this rule would not
28:30
hold good in that case. There we go. Father Sparago
28:34
got ahead of me again, he always does. He was
28:37
a brilliant guy. The ecclesiastical authorities are accustomed to dispense
28:41
some matrimonial impediments where good reasons exist. The secular authorities do. Likewise,
28:46
the pope alone can dispense from some impediments, such as
28:49
nearby relationships or affinity by marriage. From others. The bishop
28:53
can grant dispensation, either in virtue of his office or
28:56
empowered by the Holy See. There are some natural impediments
29:00
in which not even the Supreme Pontifican grant and dispensation,
29:03
nor is one ever granted to stepfathers and stepdaughters, to
29:07
father in laws and daughter in laws. Rarely can a
29:10
dispensation be obtained from solemn vowels or the greater orders,
29:14
nor in the case of one party being unbaptized of
29:18
spiritual affinity contracted in baptism, or in the relations of
29:22
uncle and nie santon nephew. Purely ecclesiastical impediments allow much
29:27
more readily of the dispensation. If a marriage to which
29:31
any impediment impediment rendering it in valid exists should have
29:36
been contracted, it must either be dissolved, or the impediment
29:40
must be removed by means of a dispensation, and the
29:43
ceremony performed over again. The invalidity of the marriage is
29:48
if the invalidity of the marriage known publicly the nuptial
29:51
contract must be renewed in the church in the presence
29:53
of the parish priests and two witnesses. If not, it
29:56
can be renewed privately. If only one of the parties
29:59
to the marriage, which is where the impediment, and the other,
30:02
should it come to his knowledge, would make use of
30:05
it to dissolve the marriage, or if it would destroy
30:08
the conjugal happiness of both, the Pope has the power
30:11
to dispense from renewal up matrimonial contract and declare the
30:15
union valid. It is advisable, in order to bring delight
30:19
any impediments that may exist to the marriage, that the
30:22
parties intending to be united in wedlock should be subjected
30:26
to an interrogation by the clergyman in presence of two witnesses.
30:30
It is a grievous sin on the part of the
30:32
betrothed person willingly, willfully and to conceal any impediment which
30:37
would annul their marriage. It is for the sake of
30:40
ascertaining whether any such hindrances exist, that demands of marriage
30:44
are published three times of the church. In other words,
30:47
the Catholic Church takes marriage very, very seriously, and unlike
30:53
in secular life. You can't just say, oh, we love
30:55
each other and run off to a courthouse or a
30:57
ship captain or some who calls himself Reverend Tom and
31:04
get a marriage certificate. It doesn't work that way in
31:06
the Catholic Church. You have to go to a priest,
31:09
and the priest has to make sure your marriage qualifies
31:12
to be valid, and then you have to go through counseling.
31:16
It's not a light matter. So now we get to
31:20
the topic of the celebration of matrimony. Marriage must be
31:23
preceded by betrothal. Betrothal betrothal whatever, by the publication of
31:28
the bands, and by the reception of the sacraments of
31:30
penance and the altar. Betrothal consists in this, an unmarried
31:34
man and an unmarried woman, after due reflection, pledged their
31:37
troth to one another, promising each to marry the other
31:41
at the time agreed upon between them. How often is
31:45
the troth pledged? These days? We say we get engaged. Yeah,
31:51
I've been engaged a few times. Actually I have. Each
31:55
time I was very serious. Each time I was cheated on,
31:59
lied to, not fun all right, ration, Hasty engagements always
32:05
turn out badly. Therefore, young people should not take this
32:08
step without mature deliberation. They ought also to ask advice
32:13
of their parents or trusted friends, listen to the exhortations
32:17
of the Holy Scripture. My son, do thou nothing without counsel,
32:21
and thou shalt not repent what thou hast done. It's
32:26
either ecclesiastices or Ecclesiasticus, remember the old way the Bible
32:32
titles were done. But it's one of those, Chapter thirty two,
32:36
twenty four. I never have been able to figure out
32:38
his abbreviations on that, so I guess it's what either
32:42
Ecclesiastes or syric. They ought also to make it subject
32:47
of prayer for a prudent wife, as properly from the
32:50
Lord Proverbs nineteen fourteen. A matter so important as the
32:54
tying of the nuptial knot, which can never be unloosed,
32:57
must not be done without prayer. And making the choice
33:01
of a partner for life. Advantages of wealth, high birth,
33:05
and the like ought not to be as much considered
33:08
as virtue and piety, the fear of God, the love
33:11
of virtue, or the best marriage portion for Christians. For
33:14
a man who does not love God will not love
33:16
his wife. Let him who desires happiness in the married states,
33:20
as Saint Augustine, not choose for his bride one who
33:23
has a large dowry, but one who is proficient in virtue.
33:26
Let him look to the beauty of the heart, to
33:28
the nobility of a pure life. Personal beauty, if not
33:31
accompanied by interior loveliness, may captivate for a time, but
33:36
his power is not lasting. Yet. No man is to
33:38
be blamed who has an eye to such attractions, and
33:40
the wife in his wife as beauty, wealth and rank.
33:44
For these in no way interfere with the sanctity of
33:46
the marriage bond. A virtuous man will surely have a
33:50
partner worthy of him. A good wife is the portion
33:53
of those that fear God, and is given to a
33:55
man for his good deeds. Okay, I guess I'm not
34:02
good enough. During the interval between the betrothal and the
34:05
conclusion of the marriage, the affianced parties ought seriously to
34:11
reflect upon the step they are about to take and
34:14
make the best possible preparation for wedded life. Let them
34:18
avoid all association on familiar terms with other suitors, and
34:22
conduct themselves in general with great decorum. The Holy Cynod
34:27
exhorts the bridegroom and bride not to live in the
34:29
same house until they ever receive the sacradoo bedediction, which
34:33
is given the Church Council Trent. You know living together
34:37
as far more common than not these days. What are
34:39
you gonna do? Happy the young men and maidens has
34:42
Saint John Christostom, who come to the nuptial altar with
34:46
a pure heart. How true will be their mutual love,
34:49
How sincere their mutual esteem? How firm their mutual friendship?
34:53
How tenderly will that man cherish his wife who has
34:57
never bestowed his affections on another. Those who have formed
35:01
illicit connections before marriage will quickly tire of one another.
35:05
Their love will change to hatred. Those who are betrothed
35:08
ought to acknowledge frankly to one another, without attempt at
35:11
concealment or misrepresentation, any circumstance which it may be advisable
35:16
or necessary to make known before the marriage is consummated.
35:19
Those who resort to deception or falsehood only prepare for
35:23
themselves annoyance, embitterment, misery in the future. If after betrothal
35:28
the conviction is born born in on either of the
35:33
affiance parties that their union will not be productive of happiness.
35:38
Let the engagement be broken off by mutual consent. Moreover,
35:43
one party is warranted and withdrawing from the contract. The
35:45
others should be found guilty of any grave delinquency such
35:49
as breach of promise, treachery, theft, or the like, or
35:52
if his circumstance should be altered by any unforeseen event
35:56
of importance, such as the complete loss of property seviely
36:00
on this, etc. The publication of the bands is as follows.
36:04
The names of the contracting parties between whom the marriage
36:08
is to be concluded shall be announced publicly three times
36:12
of the parish during the solemnization of the Mass on
36:14
three sub sects of Sundays or festival days. I don't
36:18
think we do that anymore. Usually a marriage is announced,
36:24
maybe announced in the church, in the newspaper. I'm afraid
36:30
nobody really takes things seriously much anymore. The name, calling,
36:34
birthplace and residence of the affianced couple are pronounced, are
36:39
proclaimed that the publication of their bands. No, I've never
36:42
heard this that mass. It may happen to your parish,
36:46
has never happened to mine. Of course, my parishes are
36:49
usually filled with retired people. We really don't have many
36:53
weddings whatsoever. You know, I've never actually been to a
36:57
Catholic wedding. I've been Catholic now for almost thirty years.
36:59
I've never been to Catholic wedding. Oh well, I have
37:03
no idea if this happens in your church. Let me know.
37:07
Never once heard it, and I've visited plenty of parishes.
37:10
Surely somebody in there would have been engaged. Oh well.
37:15
The purpose of the announcement is to ascertain whether any
37:19
impediment exists to their lawful union, and to announce to
37:22
the parishioners the intended nuptials that no scandal may be
37:26
caused by their cohabitation. The marriage must on no account
37:30
take place until after the day of the third announcement,
37:33
but if it is not celebrated within six months of
37:35
that time, the publication of the bands must be repeated.
37:38
Only in exceptional cases is the publication of bands to
37:41
be admitted, and the omission must be sanctioned by the
37:44
bishop of the diocese. It never beats me. That's a
37:50
new one on me. It is also enjoyed on persons
37:53
intending the marriage to approach the sacrament of penance and
37:56
the altar, because it is indispensable that they should be
37:59
at a state of grace in order to participate in
38:01
the graces conferred in the sacrament of matrimony. All who
38:05
are about to marry are exhorted at least three days
38:07
before the air consummation of their marriage carefully to confess
38:10
their sins that are received devoutly the most holy sacrament
38:13
of the Altar. Again, the Council of Trent, the confession
38:16
should be general, embracing their whole life, because it will
38:19
then have the effect of awakening greater contrition and setting
38:24
the conscience more fully at rest. Our Lord, who condescend
38:28
to be present at the marriage of Cana must also
38:31
be invited to come to the bridegroom and bride to
38:34
sanctify them and bestow His grace and blessing upon their nuptials.
38:39
Happy those who prepare a fitting dwelling in their heart
38:41
for the divine guests. Without presumption on their part, they
38:45
may hope that if he will remain, that he will
38:47
remain with them until their death and impart to them
38:50
a gift of his grace and abundant measure. But those
38:52
who do not approach the sacraments worthily and enter upon
38:55
the matrimonial state immortal sin, deprive themselves to grace and
39:00
called down on themselves the curse of God. They who
39:03
thus act are. Those who thus act are like warriors
39:08
going to fight without armor and without arms. The Church
39:11
expressly commands that the marriage be concluded in the presence
39:14
of a priest of the parish and two witnesses, or
39:18
the parish priest may offer another priest act in his place.
39:22
The decree to this effect was issued by the Council
39:24
of Trent. The marriage ceremony must therefore be a publican
39:28
ecclesiastical ceremony. In early times it took place in the
39:32
presence of the bishop. Saying Nacious, Bishop of Antioch, says,
39:36
it is right that affiance persons should conclude their nuptials
39:41
only with the knowledge and sanctification of the Bishop, and
39:45
thus their union may be in accordance with the will
39:47
of God. It was God's his fright, sences Saint Francisco
39:52
who gave Eve to Adam, and he it is who
39:56
must bind the marriage bond. Those who show attempt to
39:59
contract marriage otherwise than in the presence of a parish
40:02
priest and in the presence of two or three witnesses, consequently,
40:06
not in accordance with a triting to tridentine decree, form
40:10
a contract which is nolan void. Wow, and he's got
40:14
an asterisk there. So let me see what he said
40:16
on that note. Oh, that was the yeah, that was
40:20
the previous note. In some countries that was impossible. Marriages are,
40:26
as a rule, celebrated in the forenoon in the House
40:29
of God, with solemn ceremonies and mass, usually said at
40:34
the time interested into the state of matrimony is an
40:37
event of great moment, one which influences the whole life.
40:41
Saint Paul turns matrimony a great sacrament. Hence the apviance
40:46
couple ought to conduct themselves with the utmost reverence and
40:50
not hasten out of the church at the moment of
40:52
the ceremonies ended, but remain a while kneeling before the
40:56
altar to make their thanksgiving. Thus Tratullian declares of the
41:00
Christians sealed their marriage contract with prayers and ratified it
41:04
with the Holy sacrifice, and the missile. A special mess
41:08
prosponso at sponsor is provided for the celebration of nuptials
41:13
in secret in the presence of a trusted witness, only Truton,
41:17
it's gotta be two, so trusted witnesses, the episcopal sanction
41:21
must be obtained, and also for the celebration of marriage
41:24
in the afternoon. The ceremonial for the celebration of matrimony
41:28
is significant of the duties of the marriage and the graces,
41:34
graces in which they participate. I gotta admit this is
41:38
hard for me read I'm losing my zeal as I
41:43
go through it. It's so absolutely depressing. I'm going to
41:49
have a very hard few days after this, but it
41:55
is what it is. The bride usually comes to the
41:58
altar wearing a wreath, which is again Czechoslovakia, those beautiful
42:04
Slavic customs of wreaths. Not never see that again in
42:09
our time. The bride usually comes to the altar wearing
42:12
a wreath which is emblematic of the victory she is
42:15
one in the preservation of her innocence. The bridegroom stands
42:19
on the right of the altar, the bride upon the left.
42:21
The witnesses stand behind them. The priest then ask each
42:25
separately if with their free will and consent they enter
42:28
into wedlock, and on their answering in the affirmative with
42:32
an audible voice, they join hands, each holding the right
42:36
hand of the other, to confirm the promise of an oath,
42:40
and they pledge their troth, repeating the per formula after
42:43
the priest, in which they promise separately to have and
42:46
hold each other for better or for worse, for Richard,
42:49
for poorr in sickness, and help till death to impart.
42:52
The priest, then, placing his stole around there joined hands
42:56
to indicate the indissolubility of the nuptial tie, unites him
43:00
in the name of the Holy Trinity, and sprinkles him
43:03
with holy water. This done, the bridegroom places upon the
43:08
book the ring which the priest bless and gives back
43:12
to the bridegroom. He places it on the thumb of
43:15
the bride. I didn't even know that the thumb huh
43:19
in the saying in the name of the Father, Son
43:22
and the Holy Spirit. Oh, and then the second note
43:24
on the thumb the Father, second finger the Son, and
43:28
the third the Holy ghosts, and lastly the four saying Amen.
43:32
It's amazing. As I said, I've never been to a
43:34
Catholic wedding only went to one or two before I
43:38
was Catholic. I don't know these things. If you know him,
43:43
if you're very blessed, very blessed. Indeed, after this, some
43:48
prayers are recited over the newly married couple, and the
43:52
nuptial benediction is to be given. Mass has said, which
43:56
is time as usual for them to communicate in conclusion
43:59
the saw him. But an addiction is given in which peace,
44:02
happiness and long life or assault for them on their
44:05
return home a wedding peace is prepared. Well, that must
44:09
be something. I guess that's where we get the tradition
44:11
of the wedding reception not having any family. I guess
44:14
I wouldn't have that either. In this there is nothing blameworthy.
44:19
We know that our Lord honored such a festivity with
44:22
his presence. The newly married should, however, be careful to
44:25
spend the day in such a matter as to not
44:27
lose the blessing which they received in the morning, as
44:30
they do as they would do where they profane it
44:36
by dissipation or sinful diversions. Yeah, I just kind of
44:41
sit in the back of the church by myself. I
44:44
want to appew by myself, oh well, y'all. You know,
44:55
if you're blessed to have a family, don't ever take
44:58
it for granted. I'll out to you next time.