Models of the Christian Family

Meditation for Tuesday of the 30th Week in Ordinary Time
(Eph 5:21-33; Lk 13:18-21)

Recently, issues bordering on marriage and human relationships are dominating public discourse. Social media has given ample opportunity for more people to air their opinions, irrespective of their traditional or religious beliefs. Almost on a daily basis, we hear stories about divorce, separation, domestic violence, infidelity, etc. However, most weekends are colored with gorgeous couples matching forward to celebrate and showcase their new marriage. St. Paul’s teaching on marriage remains one of the most formative.

As we said earlier, the Letter to the Ephesians talks about the people of God as the body of Christ, the Church; the people chosen and blessed in Christ, equipped with heavenly graces and called to the apostolic life of the Church in their own unique ways, according to His riches in glory. It is on this backdrop that St. Paul teaches about the Christian family as a model of the union between Christ and His Church, and most importantly, the family as living expression (Sacrament) of the union between Christ and His Church. Thus, the Church grows from the family, the small household of God.

 

St. Paul draws models from the mystical union between Christ, the Head, and His Body, the Church, and applied them to the union between husband and wife. It is from this mystical union that the Christian marriage germinates and is sustained. In other words, the choice to have a Christ-centered marriage becomes an expression of our new life in Christ as members of His body, the Church. That is why St. Paul maintains that Christian marriage must be contracted and sustained by the same virtues that exist between Christ and His Body, the Church. These virtues include sacrificial love, submission, cleansing (forgiveness), holiness, and respect. Think about a home with these virtues! These are the graces Christ constantly infuses in the Church that makes it new every day.

 

As Christ and His Body are one, so are husband and wife. “As the Church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her.” As the two are one body, St. Paul explains that he who loves his wife, loves himself, and she who honors her husband, honors herself. “This is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the Church.” This great mystery of marriage can be likened to the mystery of the kingdom of God, which grows like a grain of mustard seed, sown in the garden of the hearts of a young couple, and it grew and became a big family tree of life. This growth is nourished and sustained, step by step, by the merits of the mystical body of Christ, even in the midst of trial and persecution.

 

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.

Tuesday October 24, 2022.

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