In case you haven’t heard yet, the Supreme Court here in the United States just made same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states. A historical decision as decisions go and one that is going to have implications for years to come. This day will be remembered as the day that can society began to implode on itself here in the United States (which are not as united as they once were). It’s a decision not made with the law in mind, but with an agenda in mind. It’s an agenda to destroy all things pertaining to God, humanity, and the common good.

Just as with other unjust laws, such as Abortion, the Catholic Church now has its battle ground for the early 21^st Century. Just as we have done since 1973, when the Supreme Court here in the US decided on a case based on an agenda, and not the law, we will stand up for the common good and profess the beauty of marriage between one man and one woman.

Now that this can has been opened wide, where does it end? In short, it won’t end. Before long we will see polygamy and other distorted forms of marriage brought before the Supreme Court.

So with this being said, let’s take a quick look at what the Catechism of the Catholic Church has to say about the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony –

St. Paul said: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church. . . . This is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the Church” (Eph 5:25, 32) [#1659].

The marriage covenant, by which a man and a woman form with each other an intimate communion of life and love, has been founded and endowed with its own special laws by the Creator. By its very nature it is ordered to the good of the couple, as well as to the generation and education of children. Christ the Lord raised marriage between the baptized to the dignity of a sacrament (cf. CIC, can. 1055 § 1; cf. GS 48 § 1) [#1660].

The sacrament of Matrimony signifies the union of Christ and the Church. It gives spouses the grace to love each other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church; the grace of the sacrament thus perfects the human love of the spouses, strengthens their indissoluble unity, and sanctifies them on the way to eternal life (cf. Council of Trent: DS 1799) [#1661].

Marriage is based on the consent of the contracting parties, that is, on their will to give themselves, each to the other, mutually and definitively, in order to live a covenant of faithful and fruitful love [#1662].

Since marriage establishes the couple in a public state of life in the Church, it is fitting that its celebration be public, in the framework of a liturgical celebration, before the priest (or a witness authorized by the Church), the witnesses, and the assembly of the faithful [#1663].

Unity, indissolubility, and openness to fertility are essential to marriage. Polygamy is incompatible with the unity of marriage; divorce separates what God has joined together; the refusal of fertility turns married life away from its “supreme gift,” the child (GS 50 § 1) [#1664].

The remarriage of persons divorced from a living, lawful spouse contravenes the plan and law of God as taught by Christ. They are not separated from the Church, but they cannot receive Eucharistic communion. They will lead Christian lives especially by educating their children in the faith [#1665].

The Christian home is the place where children receive the first proclamation of the faith. For this reason the family home is rightly called “the domestic church,” a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity [#1666].

For more catechesis on the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, I would encourage you to read paragraphs 1601-1658.

Also, pray, pray hard, for our country this day and all countries that must endure such unjust rulings and laws.