From Human Love, a way towards God… to Christian Marriage, a journey with God!
Father Caffarel (1903-1996) had a deeply held conviction that couples were made for happiness. Marriage is one way towards this because the love received and the love given are sources of happiness. For him, human love was fundamentally a way to gain access to God, through Jesus Christ. Over fifty years ago, Father Caffarel took the initiative to gather together couples to reflect with them on the sacrament of marriage and conjugal life. After meeting with a few couples, Father Caffarel decided to explore the mystery of the sacrament of marriage and to bring his theological reflections to the Church. The latter were always based on meditation of the Word of God, but also on the observation and participation of couples as well as the contributions of confirmed theologians. Based on detailed surveys, he elaborated a renewed outlook of Christian marriage and of sexuality. For him, the union of a man and a woman was the sign that not only revealed and represented the mystery of the Christ-Church union, but also contained and reflected it. The conjugal community was a cell of the Church and participated therefore in the life of the Church, where Christ accomplished his mission as prophet, priest and shepherd.
Conjugal agape unites the spouses according to their Christian self and makes them “one in heart and mind”. (Acts 4, 32)
“Far from being passive, this communion via agape is an intense and communal activity, a synergy, the participation of both spouses in the same vital act of knowledge and love of God, under the influence of the Holy Spirit that dwells in the spouses”. (Golden Ring, 117-118) For couples, the question then emerges as to how to live and experience within marriage all the demands of a Christian life ? Father Caffarel invited and still invites them in the Charter of Teams of Our Lady to live according to the Gospel.
