Honorable, Valuable, Meritorious, and Holy: St. Thomas on Christian Marriage

We can learn a lot from the Angelic Doctor about this very human, earthy sacrament

As we just celebrated the feast of the Holy Family (the Sunday in the Octave of Epiphany), and this coming week (on the Second Sunday after Epiphany) we will recall the Wedding Feast of Cana, it seems fitting to spend some time learning about the goods of marriage in the school of the Angelic Doctor. For there is indeed much for us to learn (or relearn) from St. Thomas, particularly when it comes to truths we may be in danger of losing sight of, in the face of countless attacks against the divine order.

Though not an original thinker in this area, Thomas masterfully analyzes and synthesizes traditional data, and this is already an immense help.¹ That Thomas viewed Christian matrimony positively can be seen in his remarkable declaration that, from a certain vantage, the sacrament of marriage stands first among the sacraments: “As regards what is signified . . . marriage is the noblest, because it signifies the conjunction of the two natures in the person of Christ” (Sent. IV.7.1.1.3) and “the perpetual conjoining of Christ to the Church” (Sent. IV.27.1.3.2 arg. 1).

There are, to begin with, countless anti-Manichaean swordthrusts in the works of Aquinas, who defends, at times pugnaciously, the metaphysical goodness of bodiliness, sexuality, marriage, and procreation, as well as their moral goodness when right use is made of them. All that comes from the infinitely good God, the Creator of heaven and earth, is itself good (by participation). Marriage was intended by the Creator for man and woman, and so it is natural to them, and pleasing to God when used according to his plan.² Unlike many of his contemporaries, Aquinas confidently argues that the marital embrace, duly motivated, is sinless or blameless (Sent. IV.26.1.3), in accord with right reason,³ honorable,⁴ valuable for the human community,⁵ meritorious for spouses on their pilgrimage to God,⁶ and holy (sanctus).⁷