McGrath Institute Blog

For many years I heard phrases such as: “religious life is a higher calling than marriage” and “those who choose religious life want to live their lives entirely for the Lord.” But I rarely heard language which edified and elevated the vocation of married life. That was until I took a course with Dr. Timothy O’Malley on the Nuptial Mystery. This vocation, which can seem so ordinary, was illuminated through Scripture and the works of many theologians. I finally was able to grasp intellectually that which I had always known to be true—that the Sacrament of Marriage is holy and sacred, an icon of Christ’s love poured out for us on the Cross. 

For first century Jews, it must have been strange when Christ, a wife-less celibate, identified himself as a bridegroom. Dr. Brant Pitre, professor of Scripture at the Augustine Institute, takes up this topic in his talk Christ as Bridegroom, outlining the various ways in which Christ demonstrates and models spousal love to the Church, as evident in Scripture.