MODULE 4

Prepared By:

LADRES,DJ LADY JUVELLE; LARONG,AIHZEL; MANLAPAS,SHYNE; MANLIMOS,LYKA;

MILLORA, BETH RACHEL MAE;
MINGLANA,MITCH; MONTILLA,BAMBIE; MONTILLA,BAMBOO; NEPOMUCENO,HENRY
JAMES; OROZCO,MARY CONCEPCION

GROUP - 4
 MODULE 4A:
LOVE AS THE PRINCIPL
E AND POWER OF COM
MUNION

LADRES, DJ LADY JUVELLE & LARONG, AIHZEL

I. CONTEXT
The attraction to the opposite sex is often mistaken a
s love. When they meet someone they believe to be
the ideal partner, a handsome/beautiful, intelligent, a
nd affectionate friend, MARRIAGE comes into their
minds.
A romantic relationship follows the period of courtshi
p and all effort is taken to please the other. Little do t
hese couples in relationship realize that the romantic
relationship is Gods plan to make them, “other-cent
ered”.
Love is communicated in a thousand ways prior to m
arriage, but once they are married, the couple forget
that without love they would not have a marriage rela
tionship. Communion becomes difficult because they
fail to communicate their love to each other and to th
eir family.

LADRES, DJ LADY JUVELLE

II. EXPOSITION
The first task of the family composed of
husband and wife, parents and children, is
TO BE FAITHFUL in accord, in common
unity or communion with one another.

This communion, which is the foundation of

marriage and the family, can only be made
possible if there is love. Without love, the
family is not a community of persons and in
the same way, without love the family
cannot live, grow, and perfect itself as a
community of persons. (FC 18)

LARONG, AIHZEL
Man cannot love without love. He remains a being incomprehen
sible to himself; his life is senseless if love is not revealed to him
, if he does not encounter it, if he does not experience it and ma
ke it his own, if he does not participate intimately in it. (Redempt
or Hominins)
People marry because of the:
• innate desire to share life and love with someone they love.
• desire to procreate and build a family.
• Others tie the knot so to speak, for the reasons of security, es
pecially in their old age.
Whatever the reason for getting married, couples generally exp
erience love in various degrees which brings them to the desire
to be one body and one flesh for life.

LARONG, AIHZEL
III. INTEGRATION
DOCTRINE:
The joy of living and loving in a Christian
family is made possible by love, which is
the greatest virtue.

MORAL:
Love one another as God has loved you.

WORSHIP:
The sacraments and family prayer stren
gthen love in marriage and in the family.

LARONG, AIHZEL
 MODULE 4B:
CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE
AS A VOCATION: A CALL
TO HOLINESS

MANLIMOS, LYKA; MANLAPAS, SHYNE; MILLORA, BETH RACHEL MAE

I. CONTEXT

“MUTUAL
HAPPINESS
”

MILLORA, BETH RACHEL MAE

“LIVING TOGETHER” without the bles
sings of the Church is a “no-no” and is
even considered to bring bad luck to th
e couple.

“WELL-INFORMED
FILIPINO
CATHOLICS”

MILLORA, BETH RACHEL MAE

 What is
TRIAL MARRIAGE?

MILLORA, BETH RACHEL MAE

II. EXPOSITION
The origin and final end of every
Christian vocation is God. The
initiative of calling comes from
Him. He calls those whom He
wants. Every vocation or call,
whether it is to the priesthood,
religious life, or marriage needs a
response. Marriage is a call for a
man and a woman to keep holy/
sacred and to foster the dignity of
the married state and its
superlative value. (GS 47)

MANLIMOS, LYKA
 Rarely does it come to the minds of couples that
marriage is a “call to holiness”. Marriage is a
vocation because it is a call to share in God’s
own life of Love, as revealed to us in Jesus
Christ and made present to us through the
Eucharist and the Church. Marriage should be a
way to holiness.

The love, respect, fidelity, care, and mutual self-

giving that husband and wife have for each other
from the day that they get married and for the
rest of their lives, is actually a profession to a life
of holiness.

Christ communicates His grace to the couple

through the love and service that they show
each other in their everyday lives. Their marriage
is not just the marriage of two Christians, but the
marriage of Christ to his Church.

MANLIMOS, LYKA
St. Paul, in his letter to Ephesians 5:21-33, beautifully
describes Christian marriage. “Be subject to one another out of
reverence for Christ. Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to
the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the
head of the Church, His body, and is Himself its Savior. As the
church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in
everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as
Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her, that he
might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water
with the word, that he might present the Church to Himself in
splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might
be holy and without blemish. Even so husbands should love their
wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes
it, as Christ does the Church, because we are members of His
body. ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and
be joined to his wife, and the two shall be one.’ This is a great
mystery, and I take it mean Christ and the Church; however, let
each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that
she respects her husband.” St. Paul

MANLAPAS, SHYNE
III. INTEGRATION
DOCTRINE:
Christian marriage is a call to mutual self-giving
by a man and a woman as they share God’s ow
n life of love.

MORAL:
Married couples and parents should support each
other in grace through faithful love and bring up th
eir children in the Christian doctrine and virtues.

WORSHIP:
Married couples should receive the sacraments wo
rthily and nurture their lives with God’s word in ord
er to respond to God’s call to holiness through the
sacrament of marriage.

MANLAPAS, SHYNE
 MODULE 4C:
CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE
AS “COVENANT LOVE”

MINGLANA, MITCH; MONTILLA, BAMBOO; MONTILLA, BAMBIE

I. CONTEXT
Couples who are married or about to
get married look at the sacrament of
marriage as a means to legitimize the
ir relationship. The Marriage Contra
ct is just a piece of paper which will p
rove to others that they are legally livi
ng together and can, therefore, have
sex anytime. To many it is just the ph
ysical unity of a man and a woman a
nd they do not see the relationship b
etween human married love and Go
d’s love for His people.

MINGLANA, MITCH
II. EXPOSITION
The Sacred Scriptures reveal that
marriage is a symbol of God’s
covenant with His chosen people.
In both the Old and New
Testaments, marriage mirrors God’s
everlasting love for His people. It
reveals the union of Christ with His
Church. The Church is Christ’s
bride to whom He gave His
irrevocable “yes” to love forever “I
do”.

MINGLANA, MITCH
 The Third Preface of the
Wedding Mass proclaims:
“Father, you created man in
love to share Your divine life.
We see his high destiny in the
love of husband and wife
which bears the imprint of
Your own divine love. Love is
man’s origin; love is his
constant calling. Love is his
fulfillment in heaven.”

MINGLANA, MITCH
In the priestly account of Genesis (Gn 1:1-24, 27), the social purpose of
marriage “to propagate the human race by sharing in God’s own
creativity” (CCC 1604) is established. Genesis 2:18, 24, which is the
Yahwist account of marriage, states the personal purpose of marriage,
that is, the “mutual love, support, and unity of the couple.” (CCC
1605).

These accounts ground the procreative and unitive purposes of marriage.

The Genesis accounts also present the following:

• Fall from conjugal unity and equality in the sin originating the history of
human infidelity, adultery, divorce, broken families, etc. (CFC 1887)
• God’s promise of a Savior who would not only redeem marriage as a
“natural covenant of love”, but actually raise it to become the
sacrament of God’s new and eternal Covenant with His people, the
Church. (CFC 188)
MINGLANA, MITCH
 The New Testament
accounts present Christ as
the Bridegroom of God’s
New Covenant with His
people, who are invited to
share in the wedding feast
in God’s Kingdom (Mt.
22:2). Marriage images the
covenant between Christ
and His Church.

MONTILLA, BAMBOO
The Second Preface of
the Wedding Mass prays
to the Father: “This
outpouring of love in the
new covenant of grace is
symbolized in this
marriage covenant that
seals the love of
husband and wife and
reflects your divine plan
of love.”
MONTILLA, BAMBOO
Marriage involves an intimate self-revelation of the
entire self: body, mind and spirit; communication
of self to self, of person to person with respect for
each other; the full giving of oneself to the other
and the receiving of another in love.

The marriage covenant is also a mission to spread the

Good News of Christ’s love affair with His people and
make Him present on earth through the couple’s
faithful living out of their married vocation.

MONTILLA, BAMBOO
III. INTEGRATION
DOCTRINE:
Marriage mirrors God’s everlasting love fo
r His people.

MORAL:
Husbands and wives should love each other
as Christ loves the Church.

WORSHIP:
Married couples should pray to the Holy Spir
it and receive the sacraments, especially the
Holy Eucharist, for a faithful married life.

MONTILLA, BAMBIE
 MODULE 4D:
CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE
AS A SACRAMENT

NEPOMUCENO, HENRY JAMES; OROZCO, MARY CONCEPCION

I. CONTEXT
In preparing for marriage, the prospective
bride and groom look at the grand church
wedding and reception as the most
important aspects of marriage. They hire
wedding coordinators and look for the most
expensive gowns for the bridal entourage,
and the best caterers and hotels for
reception.

They think that marriage is just a human

partnership which can be dissolved anytime
either of the partners “falls out of love.”
Little do they know that, as a sacrament, it is
an efficacious sign of grace and cannot be
dissolved at the whim of either the spouses.

NEPOMUCENO, HENRY JAMES

“A marriage is not the product of both members’ families, the
circumstances in which they grew up, their appearances,
their ages, their qualities, their talents, or any other factors;
rather, it arises from a shared mission and a related fate. This
is the origin of marriage, a product of human fate
orchestrated and arranged by the Creator.”

NEPOMUCENO, HENRY JAMES

II. EXPOSITION
Marriage is a sacrament, a sign of God’s action, an
occasion of grace: the human action of man and woman as
they celebrate their wedding in the Church is sacramentalized
by the special presence of God. The couple themselves are
the ministers of the Sacrament of Matrimony, while the priest
acts a witness of the Church. In the expression of the bond of
love and unity between the spouses is revealed the true
nature/ character of the Church, that is, the indivisible union
of the Church (the Bride) with Christ where she gives her
irrevocable “yes” to Him. Marriage as a Sacrament,
therefore, is both indivisible and indissoluble.
NEPOMUCENO, HENRY JAMES; OROZCO, MARY CONCEPCION
Man and woman; by virtue of their marriage, “are no
longer two, but one flesh”. To them is offered the gift of
a new communion of love; a richer union with each other
on all levels- of the body, of the character, of the heart, of
the intelligence and will, of the soul-reflective of the
unique unity of Christ and the Church. Being of “one
flesh”, the couple fulfill the end of marriage, the mutual
self-giving of husband and wife characterized by conjugal
loving (unitive aspect) and the transmission of life
(procreative aspect). This is willed by God and should not
be broken by man on his own initiative. (Humanae Vitae)

NEPOMUCENO, HENRY JAMES; OROZCO, MARY CONCEPCION

In marriage, spouses bestow on and accept
from each other a lasting relationship from the
Divine, witnessed by the eyes of society,
precisely for the good of both spouses and their
children. The existence of this sacred bond
does not depend on human decision alone.
Matthew 19:6, states “What God has joined
together, let no man separate” makes
marriage a vocation and a sacrament, an
everlasting commitment.
NEPOMUCENO, HENRY JAMES; OROZCO, MARY CONCEPCION
 MARRIAGE: A CONCRETE SIGN

The love of Jesus, as we have seen, shows itself

in ways quite concrete and clearly distinguishable.
The love of Christ for us, for his Church, is an
intimate union of generous love, it is an enduring
love, and it is a fruitful love. I would like to take
each of these three aspects of the love of Christ,
and point out their correlation with marriage as an
exceptional sign of this love present in the world.

NEPOMUCENO, HENRY JAMES; OROZCO, MARY CONCEPCION

 A GENEROUS LOVE

The testimony given by couples living the Sacrament of Marriage is a

concrete testimony. The grace given by God does not operate in another
world; it operates in daily life. Life is a journey and a daily struggle. The
love of Christ accompanies us on this road and aids us in this struggle,
giving us new strength to encounter in our “today” the joy that Christ
showed forth as he gave himself freely for the life of the world. The Lord
himself speaks of this: “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you
and your joy may be complete. . . . love one another as I love you” (Jn
15:11‐12). Daily, a husband dedicates himself generously to the good of his
wife, and she dedicates herself daily to his good. This generosity is an
expression of the intimate union between themselves, and it shows itself in
their daily sacrifices. Above all, this generous love shows itself in their
ability to forgive one another. The marital union creates for the couple a
road that leads to sanctity, because sanctity consists in our participation in
the generous love of Christ Jesus.
NEPOMUCENO, HENRY JAMES; OROZCO, MARY CONCEPCION
 AN ENDURING LOVE

The marriage commitment is notable for being an enduring

commitment. Love sealed with fidelity calls us out of our selfishness.
Faithfulness to the marital commitment is one of those aspects of
Christian marriage most difficult for the modern world to understand,
and for this reason, it is an aspect that takes on greater importance in
our times. A world that is losing confidence in the possibility of a
faithful and enduring love needs living signs of this reality. This is a
mission that the Lord confides in a particular way to married couples.
The happiness that is lived in the midst of a faithful and freely
generous marital commitment calls us all to remember our better
aspirations; it invites those who are disheartened to have new hope.
In this sense, the Sacrament of Marriage contains within itself an
evangelizing mission.
NEPOMUCENO, HENRY JAMES; OROZCO, MARY CONCEPCION
 A FRUITFUL LOVE

Marital love is a fruitful love. As St. Augustine would often say,

Christ Jesus, by means of his sacrifice, that is, the flow of his Blood,
generates new life on the earth. This means that the sacrifice of
Christ on the Cross brought forth the life of the Church. We are the
fruits of Christ’s generous love. In just such a way, the enduring love
between a man and a woman is destined for the generation of new
life. This new life shows itself ordinarily in the bringing forth of
children; this is a mystery of life that requires the cooperation of the
man and the woman with the providential will of God. The presence
of children in a family is a great blessing, calling the couple to a new
experience of generosity and fidelity expressed in the daily care they
give for the lives of their children.

NEPOMUCENO, HENRY JAMES; OROZCO, MARY CONCEPCION

God is the Lord of Life, and we desire to live always with an
openness to receive this gift. Nevertheless, it is sometimes
the case that for various physical reasons, not all marriages
are blessed with children. But all married couples are still
destined to live a life of generosity and spiritual fruitfulness.
Married couples live not only for themselves but for the good
of others. We hear this in one of the blessings given at the
end of the wedding Mass: “May you always bear witness to
the love of God in this world so that the afflicted and the
needy will find in you generous friends and welcome you into
the joys of heaven” (Rite of Marriage, no. 125).

NEPOMUCENO, HENRY JAMES; OROZCO, MARY CONCEPCION

 AN INVITATION

The Lord invites us all, whether married or not, to

contemplate the generous, faithful, and fruitful love
made visible in Christian married life, so that we might
perceive through this sign what the love of God is
about. And by means of this grace of seeing, we are
strengthened to follow with greater courage our most
high calling, that sublime vocation to love in truth,
revealed to us in the person and mission of our Lord
Jesus Christ.

NEPOMUCENO, HENRY JAMES; OROZCO, MARY CONCEPCION

III. INTEGRATION
DOCTRINE:
The sacrament of marriage makes the love of a m
an and a woman holy, indivisible and indissoluble
and reveals the indivisible union of Christ with the
Church.

MORAL:
Husbands and wives should love each other as Christ loves t
he Church and should communicate this love to others.

WORSHIP:
Married couples should pray for the grace
of love and fidelity when receiving the sac
raments.

NEPOMUCENO, HENRY JAMES; OROZCO, MARY CONCEPCION

 The marriage God arranges for us is the best and most suitable.
So, a husband and wife should understand, respect and care for
each other, obey God’s sovereignty and arrangements, bear each
other’s obligations and responsibilities in marriage together, and
fulfill the mission God has entrusted to us with one mind. This is
God’s will.

NEPOMUCENO, HENRY JAMES; OROZCO, MARY CONCEPCION