Jesus is God. I don’t think Nuns are married to a specific person of the Holy Trinity. Then again I could be wrong.
Getting married as husband and wife is like a sign of how the Church is the Bride of Christ.
Nope, sorry. In profession of religious or eremitical vows we give our whole selves to Christ (not our celibacy which is a negative reality, the absence of something else). We remain celibate (that is, unmarried for the sake of the Kingdom) because celibate love is the form of love characteristic of the Kingdom of God. It is universal rather than exclusive. Married or sexual love is characteristic of this world, and itself is a literal sacrament celebrating the holiness of sexual love (which is love that tends towrds and celebrates the complete union of two persons). It is exclusive rather than universal in the sense of celibate love.
I’m sorry but you are either very confused, very misguided, or I don’t know…
Again, language is used other than literally. Most religious men and women will use the term spouse (if they use the nuptial imagery at all) but none that I know use the term husband (or wife) because the term is reserved for the mutual givng of selves to one another in sexual love. In any case, a casual or theologically inaccurate use of language does not justify the general conclusion that nuns or monks, sisters or brothers (much less priests!) are married to Christ or to the Church.
Remember, saints are human beings. They are not angels. They are no omniscient. They may not even be theologians, as is the case with St. Teresa of the Andes. They will use language in a manner that conveys how they feel. Human language is limited. We can’t always convey the mystical experience in words. In fact, we can never do so. We have to sue allegory. St. Teresa of Avila spoke of the Interior Castle. St. Francis of Assisi spoke of Lady Poverty. St. Vincent de Paul called modestly a cloister. Jesus refers to himself as a vine.
But they are married… in a symbolic way… would you not agree because of course we are not literally the physical Body of Christ, but in a symbolic way, we are the Body of Christ… the same applies as being the Bride of Christ.Let try to break this down into pieces here.
Spouses are a sign of the relationship between Christ and the Church, because of their exclusive surrender to each other, their charity toward each other, their cooperation to bring life into the world, they proclaim to the world that Christ and his Church are inseparable and that together they are the fount of life.
- The language found in scripture is allegorical. It is meant to help the reader understand the intimate communion between Christ and his Church. It is not literal. It is a language that attempt to explain an ontnological reality about the Church. The Church is the bride of Christ was written to help the reader understand that Christ and the Church are one, as spouses are one. Just as the love between spouses is exclusive, the love between Christ and the Church is also exclusive. In other parts of scripture we read that Christ is the head and the Church is the body. We also know that this is not literal as the relationship between Christ and the Church cannot be defined by physiological terms. But human language has no way to describe this adequately. This is the best that we can do.
- Priests are not married to the Church. If we pay close attention to the ordiantion of deacons, priests and bishops, the word marriage is no where in the liturgy or Holy Orders. Those called to Holy Orders are called to serve the Church as Christ the High Priest serves the Church. Their relationship with the Church is that of Christ the High Priest. Together the three orders of the priesthood are a visible sign of Christ’s service to the Church. The bishop, of course, is the only one of the three orders who has the fulness of the priesthood. He is deacon, presbyter and bishop. He has all three orders conferred upon him. But those orders are a sign of service. They are a sign that gives grace to the individual and to the Church. This is why a married man can be a deacon or priest. Because Holy Orders is not a marriage. Otherwise, we would have to commitments that are in conflict with each other.
- Male and female religious are not married to Christ or the Church either. We are consecrated to Christ. What we offer to Christ is the gift of our entire lives. We voluntarilly vow to live a celibate life so as to be free to love Christ. Christ is the beloved. Our vow of chasity is a foreshadowing of life in the Kingdom of God when men and women are not given in marriage. If we were literally married to Christ, then we would be representing a life that is contrary to life in the Kingdom. In heaven no one is in an exclusive relationship with Christ. The relationship with Christ is all embracing. It embraces Christ and his entire Mystical Body. Our vow of celibacy or chastity is rooted in the sacrament of Baptism, not marriage. In Baptism we die to sin and are born to Christ. In our vows, we express in a visible manner what happend in Baptism. We give witness to the world that all men are born in Christ and therefore, we do not need an exclusive relationship with anyone, because Christ fulfills every human need and brings all things into oneness with him through Baptism. We are one with Christ through Baptism. Through the vows of religious life, we make that reality that happened at Baptism and we make it visible to the world by the way that we live. The word marriage is not part of the liturgy of consecration either. This wording has been used again in an allegorical way to show the intimacy between the baptized person who is called to give witness to the life of Christian perfection and Jesus Christ. But this witness is a sign of what will come in heaven for all of us. The difference is that religious begin to live on earth what will continue in heaven, to live in the perfection of charity with Christ as the beloved and by loving Christ, we love all men and women who make up the Body of Christ. That’s our mission, to be signs of what is to come.
I’m using th word sign here as John uses it. When John uses the word sign in his book of signs, he’s speaking of proofs. Each vocation is a proof a divine reality.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
Semantics are important. What Brother has written is accurate. The figurative language works for some, not for others because their experience of Christ is not nuptial. Br and I have written pretty much the same thing and yet I was told I was “very misguided or. . .”
Bold is mine. When we speak of language being allegorical, this is exactly what we mean. It is symbollic language that tries to capture a very profound reality that cannot be expressed precesly in human language.
agreed… and well put… that’s what I’ve been trying to grasp here… but you’ve worded it quite simply in a way that can more easily be understood.Bold is mine. When we speak of language being allegorical, this is exactly what we mean. It is symbollic language that tries to capture a very profound reality that cannot be expressed precesly in human language.
There is a deeper relationship than just being married. Remember, marriage is the exclusive love between two parties. This love is not exclusive. So while religious give our lives to Christ and it looks like a marriage, it is deeper than that, because in Christ we find the entire spectrum of humanity, those who came before and those who will come after we’re dead. By surrendering our lives to Christ, we encounter and love the entire spectrum of humanity that makes up the Body of Christ.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF