By His death on the Cross, Christ won for us the grace of the seven sacraments, as symbolised by the blood and water flowing from His side. Marriage existed from the creation of the first man and woman: Our Lord raised that natural relationship to the dignity of a sacrament, so that when two baptised Christians are married, there is a sacramental bond which is given by God Himself and cannot be broken.
St John Paul said that the future of humanity passes by way of the family and he defended the family in the public square against efforts to undermine its nature and to usurp the God-given rights and duties of parents. For the sake of future generations, we need to follow his example with courage and stand up for Christian marriage and family life.
The saintly pope also reflected on the spiritual nature of marriage and the family as shown to us by God in the scriptures and the Church. He reflected on the communion of persons which is designed to be fruitful in bringing new life into the world. St John Paul compared this to the creative communion of persons of the Holy Trinity.
Last week we prayed for vocations to the priesthood and religious life. In today’s world, we also need to pray earnestly for vocations to Christian marriage, prepared for chastely, and lived in union with the teaching of Christ and the Church.