Lord God Almighty, we bless you and thank you for this family of ours. Give us the grace to live united in you and do not allow the evil one to divide us. We offer you the joys and sorrows of our lives, and we present to you our hopes for the future. God, source of all good, give our family its daily food, give us health and peace and teach us to forgive, guide our steps on the path of good. Lord, allow us to live happily in our home and may we all meet one day in the happiness of Paradise. Amen.
Holy Virgin of Guadalupe, save our country, preserve our faith and free us from bad shepherds. Amen.
THE ESSENCE OF BEING AND ITS TRANSCENDENT VOCATION
The drama of the human being lies not in its deficiencies but in its vocation: to transcend. In its most intimate essence, being is not a mere accident in the course of history or a cog in the social machinery. As perennial tradition teaches, being is, above all, a reflection of the absolute, an image projected toward its ultimate end. In the words of Rafael Gambra, “man does not fulfill himself within himself but in the encounter with the truth that transcends and contains him.”
Chesterton clearly understood that the root of modern errors lies in ignoring this essential truth. “The modern man doubts everything except himself,” he wrote. But being is not an individualistic construction nor an act of self-definition. It is participation in the order of the universe, a reflection of a higher reality that calls man not just to exist, but to exist in fullness.
It is this fullness of being, not mere utility, that defines true education. Forming man to be means guiding his existence toward what is true, good, and beautiful. As Danilo Castellano taught, “education is not a mechanical process or a technique but a deeply ontological act: the being who educates guides the being being educated toward his perfection.”
THE FAMILY: CRADLE OF BEING IN FULLNESS
The family, in its essence, is not just a natural institution; it is the first space where the human being finds his place in the world. It is here that the being receives his first lessons in transcendence, not through abstract theories but through the daily example of love, sacrifice, and obedience.
Louis de Bonald affirmed, “the family is the most complete form of community, for it unites the temporal with the eternal.” Within the family, the human being learns that his existence is not an end in itself but is destined for something greater, something that surpasses him. Here, being discovers that he does not entirely belong to himself, that he is made to give, to love, to surrender.
For this reason, any attack on the family is an attack on the essence of being. Modernity, obsessed with individualism, has sought to strip the family of its formative role, replacing it with impersonal structures and state-controlled education systems. But, as Álvaro d’Ors warned, “being cannot be formed by a state machine because only in the warmth of the home are the virtues cultivated that make communal life possible.”
BEING AND THE COMMON GOOD
Being is not an isolated individual but a relational being, called to live in community. Yet, this community is not built upon arbitrary agreements or mutual interests but upon a deeper root: the common good. This good is not the simple sum of individual goods but the order in which each being finds his place and perfection.
The family is the first expression of this common good. Within it, being learns that fullness is not achieved in isolation but in giving oneself to others. Chesterton masterfully expressed it: “The home is the only institution that makes men face their limitations and at the same time teaches them to overcome them.” It is there that being learns to sacrifice for others, to recognize authority, and to live justice as a practical virtue.
This learning cannot be imposed from the outside. As Danilo Castellano taught, “the common good cannot be designed or manufactured because it is the natural fruit of a community that lives according to the order of being.” The modern attempt to impose the common good from the state, ignoring the reality of the family, has resulted in nothing but chaos and uprooting. For the common good cannot be decreed; it must be lived.
AGAINST RELATIVISM: EDUCATING FOR THE ETERNAL
The great crisis of modernity is not economic, political, or cultural; it is an ontological crisis. It is the rejection of being and the truth that sustains it. As Félix Sardá y Salvany noted, “the gravest error of our time is to pretend that education can be neutral, that it can dispense with the truth.”
Modern relativism is not a tolerant stance but a form of nihilism that reduces being to a mere social construct. Nicolás Gómez Dávila put it clearly: “Modern education does not teach how to live but how to survive. It has replaced the search for the good with the worship of utility.”
Against this nihilism, education must be an act of contemplation, a search for being in all its fullness. This cannot take place in the impersonal classrooms of a state system but in the home, where truth is lived and passed down from generation to generation. “The home is the place where the eternal meets the everyday,” Chesterton wrote. There, in the simplest acts of daily life, human beings learn the deepest lessons about their transcendent vocation.
RESTORING BEING THROUGH THE FAMILY
The solution to our time’s crisis does not lie in new theories or political reforms but in restoring the family as the place where being finds its fullness. This means restoring its central role in education, protecting it from state interference, and recognizing its sacred character.
Hilaire Belloc stated, “the family is the heart of society, and no reform will last until we put the heart back in its place.” This does not mean rejecting public education but subordinating it to the eternal principles the family represents. As Juan Vallet de Goytisolo wrote, “authentic education is not a technical process but a profoundly human act that can only begin within the family.”
Restoring the family is not just an act of justice toward natural order; it is an act of resistance against nihilism that threatens to destroy human beings in their essence. The family is where the most important commandment is lived and passed on: to love God above all things and one’s neighbor as oneself (Mt 22:37-39). It is, therefore, the path through which human beings are taught to recognize their divine origin and ultimate vocation: to be children of God and attain eternal salvation.
CONCLUSION: BEING TO TRANSCEND
Forming man to be is not just an educational challenge; it is the fundamental challenge of civilization. It is to recognize that human beings do not fulfill themselves in dominating the world but in contemplating the truth that transcends them. This truth is not an abstraction; it is a living reality, embodied in the family and transmitted through tradition.
As the Psalmist wrote: “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain” (Ps 127:1). The family’s core is not merely of social importance but the place where human beings learn to recognize God’s presence in the everyday. It is there, in the home, where they learn to pray, to love, and to live for eternity.
The future of humanity, and of all society, depends on its ability to rediscover this eternal truth: that we are creatures of God, made for Him, called to communion with Him. Only in this recognition, lived within the family, can we find the path to salvation and a truly human civilization.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1.Chesterton, G.K. What’s Wrong with the World. Madrid: Ediciones Encuentro.
2.Castellano, Danilo. Articles and essays collected in Il principio dimenticato. Milan: Edizioni Ares.
3.Bonald, Louis de. Théorie du pouvoir politique et religieux. Paris: Librairie de Charles Douniol.
4.Donoso Cortés, Juan. Essay on Catholicism, Liberalism, and Socialism. Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos.
5.Gambra, Rafael. The Silence of God. Madrid: Ediciones Rialp.
6.Sardá y Salvany, Félix. Liberalism is a Sin. Barcelona: Librería Católica Internacional.
7.D’Ors, Álvaro. Violence and Order. Madrid: Fundación Francisco Elías de Tejada.
8.Vallet de Goytisolo, Juan. Family and Education in Natural Law. Madrid: Ediciones Cristiandad.
9.Belloc, Hilaire. The Servile State. London: Constable & Co.
10.Gómez Dávila, Nicolás. Scholia to an Implicit Text. Bogotá: Villegas Editores.
11.Elías de Tejada, Francisco. Tradition as a Political Principle. Seville: Fundación Elías de Tejada.
The sacrament of Matrimony, which symbolizes the union of Christ with the Church, will be thoroughly attacked and profaned. Masonry, then reigning, will implement iniquitous laws aimed at extinguishing this sacrament. They will make it easy for all to live in sin, thus multiplying the birth of illegitimate children without the Church’s blessing. The Christian spirit will rapidly decay, extinguishing the precious light of Faith until it reaches the point that there will be an almost total and general corruption of customs.”
Our Lady of Good Success to Sister Mariana de Jesús Torres
Family is and will always be the same, the one built by the West on the basis of human nature. So now they go for more. They want, in this final battle, to culminate the modern utopia with the outright abolition of the family, because as long as those authentic marriages that worship God and raise children in true faith persist, heretical modernity will not have fully triumphed.
Hence the spread of gender ideology, contraceptives (many of them also early abortifacients), the crime of abortion, free love, divorce, adultery, etc. and everything that goes against this holy Sacrament.
Hopefully parents will never forget that their authority comes from God! And hopefully family life will be founded on this holy foundation! The whole society creaks and wobbles. Who will save it? The government? Politicians? Political parties? Social policies or reforms? What will save it? Rallies or strikes? Or perhaps speeches? None of this can save it.
The remedy is this: strengthen family life, renew it on Christian grounds.
We need a regeneration, but a spiritual regeneration, a moral regeneration. We need families, fathers, mothers, children, to faithfully observe the Decalogue. Families in whose sanctuary the Kingdom of God is respected. Families in which Christ is the law. Families that in the midst of this frozen world raise the Cross of Christ, and be raised by the Cross of Christ.
“Parents sin if they don’t instruct their children in matters of faith. They should not imitate certain fathers and mothers who do not meet this duty moved by the desire to keep their children busy in other things. The consequence is that these poor children grow up without knowing how to make their confession, and are even ignorant of the principal articles of faith; they know not what is meant by the Trinity, by the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, by mortal sin, judgment, hell, heaven, or eternity; and through their ignorance they are damned. But their parents will have to account to God for them.”
Hopefully parents will never forget that their authority comes from God! And hopefully family life will be founded on this holy base! The whole society creaks and wobbles. Who will save it? The government? Politicians? Political parties? Social policies or reforms? What will save it? Rallies or strikes? Or perhaps speeches? None of this can save it. The remedy is this: strengthen family life, renew it on a Christian basis.
We need a regeneration, but a spiritual regeneration, a moral regeneration. We need families, fathers, mothers, children, to faithfully observe the Decalogue. Families on whose sanctuary is respected the Kingdom of God. Families in which Christ is the law. Families that in the middle of this icy world raise the Cross of Christ, and are raised by the Cross of Christ.
The family is fractured, and not only because of the gender ideology, but because we do not have deep roots of faith. It is fractured, because we have turned our values and priorities, we work tirelessly for a house, a car and perishable goods, and we put our heart and our goals in those transient and superfluous things.
The family is hurt because we do not instill in our children the love of God and our neighbor, because we do not accept that our children are people with flaws that need to be corrected. Because we cannot tolerate when someone scolds them, and we behave like wild animals when a teacher calls them to order. We are wounded, because we flee the word simplicity, because we do not accept austerity or poverty, because we believe we have the right to be served, but we do not like to serve. Because we raise proud and haughty children by giving them the world on a silver plate and robbing them of the ability to accept frustration and difficulty.
The family is hurt because we do not know how to forgive, because we do not know how to speak without hurting the other, because we ask our people for a perfection that we do not have. Because we fall into the trap of seeing marriage as something disposable.
The family is wounded, because we draw God from our hearts, because we relativize the truth, because there is never time to pray, because we accept infidelity, verbal and physical abuse, because we humiliate our spouse in front of our children or our friends. Because we are silent before sin and evil.
It is definitely time to become better families, it is time to humbly acknowledge our mistakes, it is time to give the best of ourselves. It is time to open the doors of our homes wide, to let God in.
It is time to dedicate time to our children, to tell them here I am, to teach them with works more than with words, that although life is hard, they can always count on our help. It is time to return to the first love, to fill the wine jars that were exhausted when we told our wife (or our husband) that we would be together in sickness and in health, in wealth and poverty.
The family has not only been hurt by these new doctrines and ideologies that have alarmed us so much in these past weeks, perhaps you or I as parents, have been responsible for opening wounds in what we say we love with all our soul. Perhaps, we have lost focus by looking for the things below and forgotten the ones above.
Yes, perhaps we forgot that Heaven is the goal.
God bless us and help us to become better families, places where the love of God reigns. Where the Lord is loved above all things... Families according to the Heart of our Creator.
On October 16, 2016, more than 200,000 French people marched on the streets of Paris to denounce the offensive against family and demand the repeal of the Taubira’s Law, which allows same-sex couples to get married. They denounced the attack performed by the French government against the institution of the family, and demanded the abolition of this action, which aims to destroy the concept of matrimony as the foundation of family unit, and pave the way for adoption by homosexuals.
16 important Catholic pro-life leaders, faithfully plead Pope Francis to put an end to the doctrinal confusion, to restore the clarity of the Magisterium and to reaffirm the immutable teachings taught by Christ and His Church, which are unchangeable and perennial.
They say that: “there is the possibility that a great number of souls get lost eternally” if the errors and ambiguities contained in the Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris laetitia, are not corrected. This is an exhortation that did not use the prerogative of infallibility by not maintaining integrity the doctrine taught by Christ, which have always been guarded by the Catholic Church.
·Withdraw your children from school if they are encountering immoral danger in sex-ed.
·Withdraw your family from a parish spreading error and attend a faithful parish, even if you have to travel far.
As the battle for the very soul of the family and all its members intensifies around the world with the push for sexual anarchy veiled as “education,” the undermining of what is truly masculine and feminine in the name of “gender rights,” and the destruction of marriage masquerading as “equality,” a spiritual leader who has suffered under the terror of a communist regime has laid out a survival plan for Catholic parents who find themselves in a secular, relativistic, and hostile environment but who simply want to raise their children to become future citizens of heaven.
Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Kazakhstan told LifeSiteNews in an exclusive interview earlier this month that Catholic parents must take seriously their “first duty” of raising their children in the faith if their children are to overcome the negative and even hostile influences that are pressing in from all sides and seeking to destroy.
In a wide-ranging interview that covered his experience as a Catholic boy growing up under communism, his thoughts on what it means to be a Catholic family today, his thoughts on education, bad parishes and dioceses run by agenda-driven priests and bishops, as well as his views on how faithful laity should address concerns about Pope Francis, the bishop laid out twelve steps that he said Catholic parents must take to safeguard their families and their children.
Bishop Schneider said that to survive in a heretical wasteland, Catholic parents must:
See persecution as a grace from God for becoming purified and strengthened, not simply as something negative.
Withdraw your family from a parish spreading error and attend a faithful parish, even if you have to travel far.
Withdraw your children from school if they are encountering immoral danger in sex-ed.
If you cannot withdraw your children, establish a coalition of parents to fight for that right.
Fight for parental rights using available democratic tools.
Be prepared for persecution in protecting your children (see first point).
The bishop said that being a Catholic “family” in the truest sense of the word is the key to survival. […]
Bishop Athanasius Schneider’s interview with LifeSiteNews
LifeSiteNews: Catholic families today are experiencing a type of persecution. How did your family deal with persecution while living under a communist regime?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: I would say that I had the privilege to live in a time of persecution of the faith and of the Church, because such persecution gives you a foundation for all your life. It is a grace. And therefore, in some way, I would not characterize the time of persecution always negatively. God uses these circumstances of persecution in several degrees for our [good], to purify our faith, to strengthen our faith. So, in this way, I would see the persecution [coming] from the modern society — as you [mentioned], against the family — also as a chance to be purified, to be strengthened.
From my experience of the time of the persecution, the vital importance is the family, the integrity of the family, and that both parents are deeply rooted in the faith. This is then transmitted to the children. I would like to say that the children have to receive the faith with the milk of the mother. And then the first task of the parents is to transmit to the children the purity, the beauty, the integrity of the Catholic faith in a simple manner.
First, I think that it is important that the mother or father themselves give the children in the family, in the house, the first catechism; not in the school or in the parish, but in the family. This does not exclude that there is still — in an additional way — the catechism in the parish, of course. But, first in the family. Secondly, that parents have to pray in their family with their children, daily. This was my experience. We prayed daily together. In the morning, and in the evening, but not so much, but at least we prayed together.
LifeSiteNews: How old were you when this happened?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: I was about 12. It is very fresh in my memory. For example, when on Sundays, when there were no priests — we had sometimes some years when there were no priests because the priests were in the prisons — they came to us very secretly. I remember these secret visits of the priests. It was such a feast. But we had to be very quiet because it was all controlled by secret services. Therefore our parents said to us, ‘Be quiet, don't laugh, don't cry, don't shout.’
It was a very reverent situation when the priest came. First he made confession available to the people, all [of them], even sometimes all [throughout] the night. And then there was the Holy Mass so reverently [said]. It was really unforgettable. I remember these moments.
We lived in a society where atheism, under the Communist regime, was spread in the public life, in the schools. But thanks to [the fact] that we were rooted in the family, in prayer and in the Faith, this did not infect us. We even had a lesson in the school, for example, with the title, ‘Scientific atheism.’ Our parents, as we were children, said it to us, ‘You hear these words in one ear and it should go out the other ear. Don't be attentive to this.’ And so, we obeyed our parents. Sometimes we had to be prudent not to make a provocation, to be prudent.
I think this is today the main task for families: To establish a culture of domestic churches.
The other aspect that my parents taught us children [is that outside the home, people] would know that we are Christians. [My parents would say,] ‘They know. And therefore, you have to behave yourself better than those who are unbelievers.’ Today we have to educate our children and the young people with this aspect.
LifeSiteNews: How did your family deal with not being able to attend Sunday mass?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: On Sundays, we gathered in the room, we knelt down — parents and we four children — and we prayed simple prayers such as the Rosary, litanies, and we made Spiritual Communion. And I am sure Our Lord visited our souls with the graces of Holy Communion.
LifeSiteNews: You mentioned the role of parents in educating their children. This is an important issue for parents in the West due to the onslaught of sex education in schools which is imposed upon children, whether parents like it or not. How should parents respond?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: Of course, [education] is the first duty of parents. When their children are taught in the school in an immoral way, they have to withdraw the children. This is their obligation. You cannot expose your children to an immoral danger. It is impossible. Catholic parents, in defending their children from this immorality, have to be even ready to suffer, yes, to suffer consequences.
LifeSiteNews: What should parents do in countries where it is illegal for them to withdraw their children from school?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: This is a very delicate issue, but in this case the Catholic parents have to form a kind of league, an association — nationwide — [so that they can] be strong. [They must] have lawyers and defend themselves with the means of a democracy. I think it’s important to establish a coalition of parents in this specific aspect of sexual education to [secure] the right to withdraw their children.
LifeSiteNews: What should Catholic parents do when they encounter a priest in a parish, or even a bishop, with an agenda to advance teaching contrary to the faith?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: The parents have to know very well their Catholic faith. They have to study very well the catechism, because the catechism is unchangeable – that is, the truths [found within the catechism]. [They have to] study the catechism of their parents and grandparents, which is very simple and clear. This is the voice of Christ and of the Church of all times. [They must do this] to be rooted very firmly in the Catholic faith. Then, when pastors or members of the hierarchy contradict the teaching of Christ, the teaching of the perpetual Magisterium of the Church, of the Catechism, you have to withdraw your children from these churches, and not to go to them, even if you have to travel 100 km [to a faithful church].
When we lived in the Soviet Union — thanks be to God in another place, in Estonia — there we had a Catholic Church and a priest 100 km [away]. And our parents said, ‘Oh, we are so lucky. It is so close to us. In 100 km, a church! We lived in [our town] many years without a priest and without mass. Now we have [to go only] 100 km. What a happiness.’
I think that in the Western world, in the United States, you will find a Church maybe closer than 100 km where there may be a good priest. So, avoid these churches [where error is preached]. [Such places] are destroying the faith of the people. These churches are destroying. We have to avoid them. [Such people] are traitors of the faith, even when they have the title of priest or bishop.
LifeSiteNews: Should faithful Catholics, who love the pope and do not wish to harm the papacy, express themselves regarding concerns over statements made by Pope Francis that do not seem to line up with Catholic teaching. Or, would it be better for them to remain silent?
Bishop Athanasius Schneider: In the Church, we are not living in a dictatorship. In a dictatorship, we do not have the courage to contradict the dictator. But when, in the Church, we arrive at a situation where faithful priests and bishops are fearful to say anything, like in a dictatorship, this is not Church. This is not the Church of dialogue, of collegiality, of family. No. In a family, there has to be the possibility of exchange your [views].
And sometimes, good parents even allow their children, when they are growing, express themselves. Why not? A good father will accept when his elder son says, ‘Father, this is not so correct.’ Sometimes it happens.
And so, the Holy Father is our father. And when he says to these groups, ‘You must not speak all the time about these [things]’ you can say with all reverence, ‘Holy Father, this is an unjust accusation to us. We are unjustly accused. It is not the case that we speak every time, and all the time, about this. We don't speak on this all the time. We speak on the Gospel, we speak about family life, we speak about prayer. So, your judgment, it is unjust to us. Your accusation is unjust. And permit us, in some way, to defend ourselves, and hear our voice.’
“Rebuilding the life” of divorcing marriages. That is the irrepressible motto and new secular “dogma” that is currently on everyone’s lips, and whoever dares to contradict it becomes the subject of all kinds of sanctions, attacks and condemnatory adjectives. To speak against divorce is to go against progress, modernism and human rights, or so they say.
However, anyone who guided by their own judgment manages to disengage from the materialistic views of a mass society, which ironically deems itself free, will begin to raise these fundamental questions: “Are divorced people really rebuilding their lives?” “What did they do to undo it in the first place?” Later on, he will reflect on the following: “one can only rebuild what has been previously undone”. And they will question if they are really undoing things even more instead of rebuilding them, not only their own lives but others’ too. Yet today very few people raise these questions; and therefore how many get into a dangerous and naive adventure, entering a path of no return!
Certainly, there are thousands of efficient ways to destroy a life. Sometimes these sprout in our minds and judgment when we are children; they develop and take shape during youth, hatching finally in the adult stage. They are composed of multiple factors, such as lack of strong and genuine principles as well as a poor lay vision of existence.
THE CHOICE
While it is true that the destruction starts with these types of notions that, as we have said, are absorbed during childhood or in early life, this evil formally materializes for the first time during courtship, for these same notions are the ones that will guide the choice of the future spouse.
Without a well-established and hierarchized scale of values, both in the bride and groom, to analyze if there is true compatibility, and without a real assessment of the significant features of both sides, the new possible marriage is definitely off to a bad start. Thus, focusing on physical appearance, ‘chemistry’, as attraction is called today, and ‘being cool’ become main factors for them to embark upon a unfamiliar and dangerous path.
However, there is always something within themselves that alerts them about their building on unsure foundations, and so they enter marriage considering divorce as a resource in case things go wrong, therefore, they walk to the altar full of hopes and illusions but paradoxically thinking of failure and accepting it in advance.
SUCCESS OR FAILURE
Once married life begins there will be adaptations, adjustments and even confrontations resulting from the different natures, principles, opinions, preferences, and above all, different moral and religious values. In addition, the particular mindsets arising from different upbringings and social class of each one will also emerge, together with the specific strengths or weaknesses of the two sides.
There are two possible outcomes of this process; victory or defeat. It will depend on the background, principles and supernatural outlook on both sides. Sometimes it will be necessary to exercise extreme prudence and an almost heroic practice of virtues, which will result in benefits for the entire family, both parents and children
We can be sure that, as long as there is good will, God will grant his graces to them. Deep and supernatural love will overcome all difficulties and will have as a reward uncountable joys and benefits. It will not be defeated by false self-love, pure selfishness or by hedonistic materialism; this kind of love is only based in convenience and sexuality. The foundation of genuine love will be a real affection between them, together with a sense of eternity and always placing love of God and obedience to Him above all, hence resulting inevitably in the greatest good, for the spouse as well as for the children. True love knows that everything else will be given as well.
On the other hand, there are numerous elements that contribute to destruction of marriage today. All the different media, with its controlling influence for creating mindsets, does not cease to promote infidelity, pornography, “free love”, abortion and small families as role models. On top of that, there is also violence, generation gaps, drug addiction, lack of family communication, secular schools, etc. among other relevant factors that also have a negative influence on the essential cell of society.
DIVORCE
There are numerous factors that when combined lead without doubt to a failed marriage, somehow or other: when there is not an adequate preparation to marriage along with a responsible choice of partner, when there is no self-sacrifice for the sake of the other person or for the couple, when there is no willingness to do all the positive things in favor of the spouse and children, when self-love, selfishness and pride prevail, when divorce is a possibility, no matter how small, or when God does not dwell in the household are just a few of them.
Of course, blame will always be attributed to the other side, without acknowledging or, in many cases, without even realizing about one’s own faults. And what can the party that deems itself so good an innocent, that on occasions even come to accept (or cannot fail to acknowledge) some blame, do? In their view, they have the right to: “rebuild their life”, given that they consider themselves as victims. And, indeed, they are victims but only of themselves, and at the same time they are also tormentors, in the proportional part that corresponds to them, of their family, spouse and children with all the resulting consequences that this entails, and without detriment of the responsibility of the other side. (1).
A MEANINGLESS PIECE OF PAPER
Sadly, they are convinced that through divorce they are breaking the bond that they freely accepted, which was sanctified by God and established upon death of one of the spouses. While it is true that the State has the authority to regulate the civil effects of the institution of marriage, they have to comply with the order stated by their Creator. Therefore, it is invalid to legislate over something that was divinely instituted. The government lacks the power to dissolve a real and legitimate marriage, therefore what God has joined together cannot be separated by man, even when he issues thousands of certificates with official stamps in them, or establishes all the laws he wishes to. Ultimately, these laws and certificates will only be pieces of paper without any real value. Just a meaningless and worthless piece of paper!
And with these aforementioned papers they intend to legalize the subsequent concubinage and bring to fruition the destruction they had started progressively, maybe even before choosing a boyfriend or girlfriend, but at the exact moment when they accepted divorce as a right and solution.
It is the great temptation and the biggest of mistakes. “Rebuilding” gave us the option to destroy, and prevented us from making EVERY effort to make things right. The word “Redoing” leads us to believe that if things go wrong once again, there is a chance to redoing them over and over again. Or is it possible to set a limit to this?
This kind of thought also affects whoever marries with a divorced person, given that by accepting the effect (the new and false marriage) there is also acceptance of the cause (divorce). Now there are two people infected with the same virus. The impact multiplies in them, and it is very likely that it will also affect their existing and future offspring, who will end up considering normal what is an irregular situation and thinking of divorce as a possible option “in case of necessity” for their future lives. However, they will be the first victims. Any school principal or social worker knows, without having to be psychologists, that wherever there is a problematic child or a young delinquent, there is a broken marriage.
REAL REBUILDING?
Furthermore, this “rebuilding” hinders a genuine reconstruction, since the divorced ones create new family structures that tie and root them. Hence, the legal spouses, the ones that did not “rebuild” their lives, are prevented from trying to reconstruct their marriage, for they will encounter illegal structures or legalized concubinages, which will thwart any possible attempt of rebuilding their legitimate family.
Such structures, by their own nature, tie the partner to their new way of life, which, in addition, alienate them from divine friendship and jeopardize the end for which every man was created, namely to possess God eternally.
Whoever violates the laws provided by Him by living in a state of permanent sin, may deceive everybody, even themselves, but cannot deceive God. Furthermore, they put themselves and their partners at great risk of dying in mortal sin. In such a case, EVERYTHING will be lost for nothing.
AN AVERAGE LIFE EXPECTANCY OF 75 YEARS OLD IN EXCHANGE FOR AN ETERNITY?
Is there anything as folly as this? How much time does life last compared to an ETERNITY of acceptance or rejection from the Creator? Is it worth the risk? If love of God is not enough to act as a deterrent may His fair and final judgment be it.
After analyzing and considering all the previously exposed reasons, we ask again the initial question: Did these failed marriages really rebuild their lives and that of their families… or destroyed them?
______________________________
1) NOTE:It is not our intention to analyze in this article those cases where blame is completely and overwhelmingly attributable to only one spouse, as these are certainly the less common cases, although the more used by those in favor of divorce. Certainly, the Church accepts separation in extreme situations, but not false dissolution of a bond to be able to get married again.
It should be emphasized, to avoid confusion, that the fact of declaring null and void a marriage that never existed in the first place by any impediment, is completely different than divorce.
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