Reflection on September 29, 1982

https://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/jp2tb95.htm

Using marriage as the analogy to explain Christ and the Church, SJPII says that the focus is on the “gift” that Christ made of Himself for the Church. If that is the focus, we must go back and see that SJPII spend much of the first several sections going over the importance of seeing marriage as a giving of self as “gift” to the other. Over and over again, this became evident as the focal point of what marriage was all about, why it was instituted the way it was, why it became important to be unique, for only one other, for life, between male and female. All of these became extremely important in pointing to the idea of spousal gift of self and we saw that every step we take away from these characteristics of self gift move us further from what was meant for marriage from the beginning. We see now that the importance of understanding marriage as a gift of self is so vital because the analogy points to Christ gift of self for the Church, and understanding that mystery is essential in understanding our relationship and establishing our faith in God. The more we move away from the idea of marriage as a gift of self and into the idea that it is a relationship that fulfills desires and based on feelings, we will see Christ not as a gift given to be received, but as a resource to get what we desire. As with the ease of dissolving marriages, when we do not feel our desires are met by Christ, we will simple leave Him for something we think will meet our desires.

I thought it was interesting that SJPII says we cannot fully receive the gift of Christ because it is divine and we are merely human. I thought about that in the sense that the Church is the bride of Christ, we are merely the fruit of that union. We do not receive the full gift of Christ, but the Church has, and we are able to participate in the Church and receive the graces that come from that complete and full union between Christ and the Church .