from it. All the evil that the Lord permits, and all the blessings He provides,
come from that infinite mercy which is constantly seeking to lead each one of
us to heaven as far as we are willing to go, each on the unique path that is best
for us.”
(BMH)
‘one flesh’
The key distinction between a marriage and all other human relationships is
how exclusive and inclusive it is. It is exclusive because limited just to two
people, the husband and wife; no one else is included. Two people of the same
sex can love each other and be very close friends, but their friendship is not
necessarily limited just to the two of them. But for them, their marriage is allinclusive – a union not just of their spirits, but also their bodies. As the Lord
said, they become “one flesh.”
Their bodily union is an outermost expression of the hoped-for oneness
of their souls, and is also clearly for the purpose of conceiving children. In
this way they are capable of accomplishing a use that no person alone, or any
other combination of persons, can accomplish: creating a new human being,
and thus contributing to the perpetuation of the human race on earth and in
heaven. And, as many studies have shown (not to mention common sense), a
family with a married father and mother is the best setting for providing the
care children need. Society, therefore, has a stake in marriage and would be
wise to preserve the genuine definition of it.
The fact that a man and a woman who are not married can also conceive
children, or that not every married couple is able to or chooses to do so, does
not negate the truth that the potential for procreation is the essential use that
defines what marriage is; and that the marriage of a man and woman is the
Divinely intended context and order of human life within which that use of
procreation is meant to be carried out.
“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to
his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” (Matthew 19:5)
(WEO)
‘the case is this . . . ’
In reading for my Arcana class I began to notice how often I encountered this
phrase, “the case is this,” and a similar one, “how the case is.” A quick check on
NewSearch revealed that “the case is this” appears 179 times in the Writings,
163 of them in the Arcana. “How the case is” appears 314 times; again, most
of them in the Arcana.
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