conscience is purified, the will strengthened, a salutary self-control is attained, and grace is increased in virtue of the sacrament itself.”

The Church or the People of God on its pilgrimage through this world is not a church of saints. It is a church of sinners, of people who struggle with their own selfishness to remain in the friendship of God. Christ in His deep understanding and love foresaw this, and so He Himself comes to meet us after our falls and is waiting to lift us back to Himself.

MEET CHRIST IN MARRIAGE

These special meeting-points with Christ in His Church touch our life in vital stages and tasks : birth, the struggles of life, pardon of our sins, food for spiritual growth. Since marriage and family life are so important for men and women, Christ comes to meet us in marriage and makes it a sacrament in which He offers His special help to the new family.

A very mistaken idea that is often found is that sex is something evil. To see how wrong such an idea is, we must go back to the beginning of our story where we saw that God created the first man and woman and told them to increase and multiply.

Far from being evil, sexual relations in marriage are sacred and holy, for they mean that God Himself calls husband and wife to cooperate with Him in the task of bringing a new human person into existence. And when we reflect on the value of a person we see what a tremendous task God has entrusted to parents.

Not only do they play their part with God in the birth of a new child, but man and wife have the task of raising, training and educating their child. They have to give it a good home and set their child on the path that leads to God. Parents help each other to attain to holiness in their married life and in the rearing and education of their children. In Christian marriage new citizens of human society are born who, by the grace of the Holy Spirit received in Baptism, are made children of God, thus continuing the People of God through the centuries.

When it is realized how tremendous this task of parents is, it is not surprising that God has surrounded the use of sexual powers with certain laws which are to ensure a healthy and proper climate and surroundings for the child.

That is one reason why the unmarried must remember that they are merely preparing for this noble task, and therefore are not free to use their sexual powers before marriage. That is why the place of women in society must be respected; they are not merely an object of pleasure for men, but they have the noble task of bringing children of God into this world. That is why divorce is not according to God’s plan, because both parents are needed for the proper education of children; nor is polygamy which prevents that close and exclusive intimacy which man and wife seek for in marriage. That is why sacrifice and control are necessary between husband and wife. For where there is no self-control and self-sacrifice, there is no love.

We have considered the Church as the People of God. Each family can truly be called a little Church or little People of God. In view of the responsibility of husband and wife in bringing new children to life in cooperation with God, in providing for them and developing their characters so that they finally reach God, in helping each other to grow in love and friendship for each other and for God – in view of all this, Christ made marriage and family life one of those meeting-points where He comes to us in a special way to strengthen and help us.