“The Eucharist, as the sacrament of charity, has a particular relationship with the love of man and woman united in marriage” (Sacramentum caritatis, 27). This course will consider the reciprocal relationship between the Eucharist and marriage in light of the supreme revelation of love in the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. This means, on the one hand, showing that the Eucharist itself is a nuptial mystery; it is the Sacrament of God’s espousal to the world—a mystery announced by the prophets of the Old Testament and fulfilled on Golgotha. On the other hand, we will consider how Christian marriage is interiorly ordered to the Eucharistic sacrifice as “the source from which their own marriage covenant flows, is interiorly structured and continuously renewed” (Familiaris consortio, 57). Readings for the course include: Aquinas, Summa Theol. III, qq. 73-83; de Lubac, Corpus Mysticum; Ratzinger, God is Near Us; John Paul II, Familiaris consortio; Letter to Families; Ecclesia de Eucharistia; Benedict XVI, Sacramentum caritatis; Ouellet, The Divine Likeness: Toward a Trinitarian Anthropology of the Family.
Selected Texts
John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio.
Pope Francis, Amoris Laetitia.
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae III.
Edward J. Kilmartin S.J., The Eucharist in the West: History and Theology.
Hans Urs von Balthasar, Explorations in Theology, Vol. III: Creator Spirit.
Marc Ouellet, Mystery and Sacrament of Love: A Theology of Marriage and Family for the New Evangelization.
Faculty
Nicholas Healy
Associate Professor of Philosophy and Culture
M.T.S. Program Advisor
Dr. Healy teaches and writes in the area of metaphysics, theological anthropology, and sacramental theology. Since 2002 he has served as an editor of the North American edition of Communio: International Catholic Review. He is a founding member of the Academy of Catholic Theology.
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