Christian Marriage as Nature and Sacrament

“The Eucharist, as the sacrament of charity, has a particular relationship with the love of man and woman united in marriage” (Sacramentum caritatis, 27). This course will consider the reciprocal relationship between the Eucharist and marriage in light of the supreme revelation of love in the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This means, on the one hand, showing that the Eucharist itself is a nuptial mystery; it is the Sacrament of God’s espousal to the world—a mystery announced by the prophets of the Old Testament and fulfilled on Golgotha. On the other hand, we will consider how Christian marriage is interiorly ordered to the Eucharistic sacrifice as “the source from which their own marriage covenant flows, is interiorly structured and continuously renewed” (Familiaris consortio, 57). Readings for the course include: Thomas Aquinas, Summa theol. III, qq. 73-83; H. de Lubac, Corpus Mysticum; J. Ratzinger, God is Near Us; John Paul II, Familiaris consortio; Letter to Families; Ecclesia de Eucharistia; Benedict XVI, Sacramentum caritatis; M. Ouellet, The Divine Likeness: Toward a Trinitarian Anthropology of the Family.