by Amaury Montjean

ISBN: 9782204149358

“Marriage is a certain order in which one must make profession before the novitiate; and if there were a year of probation as in monasteries, only a few would promise their vows”: this short reflection of Saint Francis de Sales unfolds the eschatological side of his theology of marriage. Because marriage has not its own novitiate, the institution of marriage must be the novitiate of a more perfect reality, namely the eternal and indissoluble community of love in the beatific Vision. The sacramental covenant is the foundation of the matrimonial union at present which will become perfect love after this life. The conjugal love continues in the eschaton what no longer exists in the sacramental covenant, dissolved by death: this perfect friendship in marriage opens to the eternal love in Heaven rooted in the common vow of souls to follow Christ, Spouse of the Church and spousal model of perfection. The Cross of Christ, sign of the spousal love between the Creator and His work, is the foundation and the end of every family community: immersed "in the blood of the Lamb", the spouses find at the foot of the Sacred Tree the resources of conjugal holiness, the just and tender expression of their love, and build the “nursery of the Blessed” towards the eschaton.

Click here to buy this 417-page book in French language