GROTESQUE
Pope Francis wrote Amoris Laetitia, meaning the Joy of Love, 10 years ago. Leo XIV called the Bishops of the world to reflect on it.
The pope’s final homily noted that God entrusts married couples with the gift of love and life:
The values of openness to life and respect for life, from conception to natural death, are rooted in love, which is fundamental to our existence and to our life together as human beings (14 October 2026).
But, and this is the underlying, cultural problem:
We are confused about ourselves. We are confused about marriage.
It’s been like this for some time now. Has anybody got answers?
We certainly do.
Over our 4,000-year spiritual tradition, beginning with a married couple – Abraham and Sarah – we have come to understood that:
Marriage has two properties – unity and indissolubility.
Marriage bestows three gifts – faithful friendship, the sacrament of matrimony, and children.
Notice: we call it matrimony, not marriage. The word means ‘mother-making,’ and by implication ‘father-making.’
Notice: that husband and wife form a unity, not a uniformity.
The former allows human flourishing, the latter is grotesque, destroying the complementarity of the sexes.
Wisdom abundant and overflowing, needing to be shared.
AMEN.
