cormacburke.me.ke

MARRIAGE AS GOD'S INTENSIVE SCHOOL OF LOVE
Monsignor Cormac Burke Gives Tips for a Happy Union
NAIROBI, Kenya, MARCH 27, 2004 (Zenit.org).
Marriage is one of God's most intensive schools of love, where he wishes to train most of his pupils.
So says Monsignor Cormac Burke, an Opus Dei priest and former judge of the Roman Rota who teaches anthropology at Strathmore University here.
Monsignor Burke explores the dynamics of love, marriage and children in his book "Covenanted Happiness" (Scepter Press). He shared with ZENIT how only the person who is prepared to face the challenges of love will grow in love, and how children challenge each spouse's capacity to love even more.
Q: What are the "laws of happiness" as they are found and lived in Christian marriage?

Traditional African approaches in the light of natural values, and of modern secular attitudes [1] (Position Papers, April 1988)

The Second Vatican Council placed special emphasis on the term "covenant" to describe the unbreakable union of husband and wife (GS 48; 50). Even on the level of its natural institution, the indissolubility of marriage images the absolutely faithful character of God's love for humankind, a love which was to find very special expression in the covenant which, through Abraham (Gen 17:1-2) and Moses (Ex 19:5), he made with his Chosen People.

            When Jesus Christ raised marriage to the level of a sacrament, indissolubility took on a new significance, becoming a sign of the love - faithful to death - of Christ for his Church. So indissolubility in christian marriage is said to acquire "a special firmness by reason of the sacrament" (c. 1056).

The expression "goods" (or "bona") of marriage originated with St. Augustine, one of the leading figures in the history of Western thought. Augustine used the expression "bona" (plural of the Latin "bonum") in the rich and significant sense of "values" or "blessings". It is important not to overlook this, since subsequent use down the centuries, especially in the field of church law, has tended to narrow its meaning and make it appear to be a term of purely technical interest just for canonists. In order to understand its scope, it is important to recall the context in which St. Augustine utilized it.