|
GENERAL AUDIENCE OF WEDNESDAY, 6 OCTOBER [1982]
The general audience of 6 October took place in St Peter's Square in
spite of inclement weather. Pope John Paul delivered an address
following the theme of the last several weeks.
1. We continue the analysis of the classic text of the Letter to the
Ephesians, 5:21-33. For this purpose it is necessary to quote some
phrases contained in one of the preceding analyses devoted to this
theme: "Man appears in the visible world as the highest expression of
the divine gift, because he bears within himself the interior dimension
of the gift. With it he brings into the world his particular likeness to
God, whereby he transcends and dominates also his 'visibility' in the
world, his corporality, his masculinity or femininity, his nakedness.
Resulting from this likeness there is also the primordial awareness of
the conjugal significance of the body, pervaded by the mystery of
original innocence" (L'amore umano nel piano divino, Citta del
Vaticano, 1980, p. 90). These phrases sum up in a few words the result
of the analyses devoted to the first chapters of Genesis, in relation to
the words with which Christ, in his conversation with the Pharisees on
the subject of marriage and its indissolubility, referred to the
"beginning." Other phrases of the same analysis pose the problem of the
primordial sacrament: "Thus, in this dimension, there is constituted a
primordial sacrament, understood as a sign which effectively transmits
in the visible world the invisible mystery hidden from eternity in God.
This is the mystery of truth and love, the mystery of the divine life in
which man really shares.... It is the original innocence which initiates
this participation..." (ibid., p. 90).
The state of man before original sin
2. It is necessary to look again at the content of these statements
in the light of the Pauline doctrine expressed in the Letter to the
Ephesians, bearing in mind especially the passage of chapter 5, verses
21-33, situated in the overall context of the entire letter. In any
event, the letter authorizes us to do this, because the author himself
referred to the "beginning," and precisely to the words of the
institution of marriage in Genesis (Eph 5:31; cf. Gn 2:24). In what
sense can we see in these words a statement about the sacrament, about
the primordial sacrament? The previous analyses of the biblical
"beginning" have led us gradually to this, in consideration of the state
of the original endowment of man in existence and in grace, which was
the state of innocence and original justice. The Letter to the Ephesians
leads us to approach this situationthat
is, the state of man before original sinfrom
the point of view of the mystery hidden in God from eternity. In fact,
we read in the first phrases of the letter that "God, Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ...has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in
the heavenly places. He chose us in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and blameless before him" (Eph 1:3-4).
God's eternal plan
3. The Letter to the Ephesians opens up before us the supernatural
world of the eternal mystery, of the eternal plans of God the Father
concerning man. These plans precede the creation of the world, and
therefore also the creation of man. At the same time those divine plans
begin to be put into effect already in the entire reality of creation.
If also the state of original innocence of man, created as male and
female in the likeness of God, pertains to the mystery of creation, this
implies that the primordial gift conferred on man by God already
includes within itself the fruit of having been chosen, which we read of
in the Letter to the Ephesians: "He chose us...that we should be holy
and blameless before him" (Eph 1:4). This indeed seems to be indicated
by the words of Genesis, when the Creator-Elohim finds in manmale
and femalewho
appeared before him, a good worthy of gratification: "God saw everything
that he had made, and behold, it was very good" (Gn 1:31). Only after
sin, after breaking the original covenant with the Creator, man feels
the need to hide himself "from the Lord God." "I heard the sound of you
in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself"
(Gn 3:10).
4. On the contrary, before sin, man bore in his soul the fruit of
eternal election in Christ, the eternal Son of the Father. By means of
the grace of this election man, male and female, was "holy and
blameless" before God. That primordial (or original) holiness and purity
were expressed also in the fact that, although both were "naked, they
were not ashamed" (Gn 2:25), as we have sought to make evident in the
previous analyses. Comparing the testimony of the "beginning" found in
the first chapters of Genesis, with the testimony of the Letter to the
Ephesians, one must deduce that the reality of man's creation was
already imbued by the perennial election of man in Christ. Man is called
to sanctity through the grace of the adoption as sons. "He destined us
to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his
will, to the praise of his glorious grace which he freely bestowed on us
in the Beloved" (Eph 1:5-6).
Supernatural endowment
5. Man, male and female, shared from the beginning in this
supernatural gift. This bounty was granted in consideration of him, who
from eternity was beloved as Son, even thoughaccording
to the dimensions of time and historyit
had preceded the Incarnation of this beloved Son and also the redemption
which we have in him through his blood (cf. Eph 1:7). The redemption was
to become the source of man's supernatural endowment after sin and, in a
certain sense, in spite of sin. This supernatural endowment, which took
place before original sin, that is, the grace of justice and original
innocencean
endowment which was the fruit of man's election in Christ before the
ageswas
accomplished precisely in reference to him, to the beloved One, while
anticipating chronologically his coming in the body. In the dimensions
of the mystery of creation the election to the dignity of adopted
sonship was proper only to the first Adam, that is, to the man created
in the image and likeness of God, male and female.
The subject of holiness
6. In what way is the reality of the sacrament, of the primordial
sacrament, verified in this context? In the analysis of the beginning,
from which we quoted a passage a short time ago, we said that "the
sacrament, as a visible sign, is constituted by man inasmuch as he is a
'body,' through his visible masculinity and femininity. The body, in
fact, and only it, is capable of making visible what is invisible: the
spiritual and the divine. It was created to transfer into the visible
reality of the world the mystery hidden from eternity in God, and thus
to be its sign" (loc. cit., p. 90).
This sign has besides an efficacy of its own, as I also said: "Original
innocence linked to the experience of the conjugal significance of the
body" has as its effect "that man feels himself, in his body as male and
female, the subject of holiness" (Ibid., p. 91). He feels himself such
and he is such from the beginning. That holiness which the Creator
conferred originally on man pertains to the reality of the "sacrament of
creation." The words of Genesis 2:24, "A man...cleaves to his wife and
they become one flesh," spoken in the context of this original reality
in a theological sense, constitute marriage as an integral part and, in
a certain sense, a central part of the "sacrament of creation." They
constituteor
perhaps rather they simply confirmthe
character of its origin. According to these words, marriage is a
sacrament inasmuch as it is an integral part and, I would say, the
central point of "the sacrament of creation." In this sense it is the
primordial sacrament.
7. The institution of marriage, according to the words of Genesis
2:24, expresses the beginning of the fundamental human community which
through the "procreative" power that is proper to it serves to continue
the work of creation. "Be fruitful and multiply" (Gn 1:28). Not only
this, it expresses at the same time the salvific initiative of the
Creator, corresponding to the eternal election of man, which the Letter
to the Ephesians speaks of. That salvific initiative comes from
God-Creator and its supernatural efficacy is identified with the very
act of man's creation in the state of original innocence. In this state,
already in the act of man's creation, his eternal election in Christ
fructified. In this way one must recognize that the original sacrament
of creation draws its efficacy from the beloved Son (cf. Eph 1:6 where
it speaks of the "grace which he gave us in his beloved Son"). If then
it treats of marriage, one can deduce thatinstituted
in the context of the sacrament of creation in its globality, that is,
in the state of original innocenceit
should serve not only to prolong the work of creation, that is, of
procreation. But it should also serve to extend to further generations
of men the same sacrament of creation, that is, the supernatural fruits
of man's eternal election on the part of the Father in the eternal Sonthose
fruits which man was endowed with by God in the very act of creation.
The Letter to the Ephesians seems to authorize us to interpret Genesis
in this way, and the truth about the "beginning" of man and of marriage
contained therein.
|
