Reflection on December 1, 1982

https://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/jp2tb101.htm

It might have been mentioned before indirectly, but I don’t know if I recall marriage being seen as a weapon against concupiscence. It is better to marry so that you have an outlet for your sinful desires. That may not be the best way to put it, but when you view marriage as a method to avoid sin, that is the way it comes across. I think SJPII sees it more as an avenue to bring redemption into your life, marriage offers the opportunity to give and receive another. That unity fills the hole that is often satisfied by sinful acts and it is therefore a weapon against concupiscence. I see it as analogous to the Eucharist, being given and filling us with God, rather than us going out and trying to fill that hole with something else. But just as receiving the Eucharist unworthily brings sin upon you, so will trying to use that special unity in an immoral way will bring about condemnation.

Marriage is not from the world, it is from God. As concupiscence darkens, marriage is something to illuminate. Therefore, marriage is for the world. It is a light for us here while we suffer from the weight of concupiscence. Eschatological man will not need marriage because he will not be suffering from concupiscence. It will not be necessary to have that grace because you will not be battling.

That made me think about what life is like if you are living marriage fully. If you are fully giving and receiving, living out that marriage, you are in a state very close to eschatological man, you are shielded from concupiscence. You live, the closer you get to that fullness of what marriage is meant to be, a life of grace, of light, a saintly life, and one that may be as close to a heavenly existence as you can get on Earth. How often are we told that the more you live your marriage vocation the way it is meant to be the closer you will get to experiencing heavenly joy. The world not only doesn’t say that but tries and continues to try and distort marriage so much that we cannot break through. Not only are they distorting marriage, but they are pushing the idea that there is no Heaven to experience. If your selling point on marriage is to get you closer to Heaven, but the belief in Heaven is fading, it is no wonder the idea of marriage fades along with it.