The Portal February 2014 | Page 6

THE P RTAL February 2014 Page 6 The A - Z of the Catholic Faith by Fr Stephen Wang M is for… Marriage Through marriage a man and woman give themselves to each other without reservation, in a publically recognised commitment, promising to love each other faithfully for the rest of their lives, sharing their joys and sufferings in whatever circumstances life brings them. They express their love through their sexual union, which brings them together in the closest intimacy and opens them to the gift of new life. They build not just a relationship but a home and a family and a place of welcome for others too. You do not need to be a Christian, of course, to get married. But for Christians the natural union of marriage is transformed into a sacrament. For a Christian couple the call to love each other in this way becomes at the same time an invitation to follow Christ and to give their lives wholeheartedly to him in love and service. The love shown between a Christian husband and wife becomes a sign of the radical love shown by Christ in his life, death and resurrection. Christian marriage is not just an expression of human affection, it is a sacrament of the love of Christ, a way for husband and wife to minister to each other and to their children. And in this way the Christian family becomes a place where others can see the beauty and power of Christ’s redeeming love, a love that is often obscured in our fallen world. This is why marriage is a Christian vocation. Martyrdom The word ‘martyr’ comes from a Greek word that means ‘a witness’. A Christian martyr is, supremely, someone who is willing to suffer persecution and death for the sake of their faith – to give their life as the greatest possible witness. But in a wider sense we are all called to be martyrs: to witness to our faith through our life, our prayer, our love and our suffering. One way of expressing this is to say that the fundamental Christian vocation is the call to be a martyr. The martyrs are not just heroic people who live in history books. They are ordinary Christians who have tried to live their faith without holding anything back – to love God with their whole hearts, to love those around them without counting the cost, to work at what is worthwhile with dedication and purpose, to be people of joy and kindness and prayerfulness, to witness to the joy of the Gospel in all that they do – whatever the cost. All of us are called to be martyrs – however weak or sinful we feel. This is not so much an obligation as a promise that God makes to us: he promises us, by giving us his Holy Spirit, that he will help us to find our true happiness in following him and witnessing to him, and that he will give us whatever we need for the journey. Morality It matters how we live our lives. A living faith involves a commitment to follow Christ and to do the Father’s will. We are called to be holy. Christ gives us his own moral teaching in the New Testament, which fulfils the teaching of the Old Testament. He continues to guide us by means of the moral teaching of the Catholic Church in every generation. By living a faithful Christian life we help to build God’s Kingdom of peace and justice in this world, and we witness to the power of Christ’s love in our lives. The heart of Christian morality is the twin commandment to love God and to love our neighbour. It is to love as Christ himself loved; to imitate him in his living and dying, as he lays down his life for us in love and service. We may struggle in our moral lives, but we can all make a fundamental decision to turn away from evil and to try to live a good life. This decision, this conversion, is what matters most, because then God can help us – in his own time – to overcome our weaknesses and grow in holiness. We can renounce sin, and promise to do everything in our power to keep his commandments. If we fail through weakness or sin, we can turn to the inexhaustible mercy of God.