The Church cannot be above the Holy Scripture; we have to follow the Holy Scripture because the Church is below the Holy Scripture. St. Paul said that the true relationship in marriage is the same relationship analogously with Christ and the Church: the Church is the bride and Christ is the bridegroom. This is how things should be because a sacrament is a sign of the relation or the union of Christ and the Church.
This is the content of the sacrament, and therefore from this content flows the practical behavior. Of course, Christ is the head and therefore, we cannot say that the husband is not the head of the family because he is. Marriage is a sacramental sign of this relationship of Christ, who is the head, and the bride, who is the Church, is the wife.
But this does not mean domination because Christ is not dominating us, Christ is loving us and He gave His life for us. This is the task of the husband: to really love his wife and to give his life for his wife including his children, and his family, as Christ did. You will see that this is a very important and demanding task, to be the head or the “boss” of the family, it's demanding.
That is why we should want to live the family and marriage according to the word of God. The wife is submitted in this way because of the order. In the order of creation, God created first Adam and then Eve. Adam is representing Christ and Eve is representing Mary – Mary is the new Eve. This is the symbology that God gave us in the Holy Scripture.
But the key to this relationship between the head and the wife is her submission to her husband, respecting him as the head. Love and respect are mutually connected, you cannot separate love and respect, so you have to respect one another mutually. The wife is the heart while the husband is the head according to God's plan, and so it should be the same way in marriage.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen once wrote a short but very beautiful book about marriage where he said, It takes three to get married: it is the husband, the wife, and Christ. So when Christ is in your midst, then the wife is also in some way submitted according to the teachings of the gospel, the pastors, and the church in the supernatural view. While it is based on the order of creation, it is not a worldly domination – being the head, or the obedience of the wife to the husband but it is an expression of respect and love.
Dear visitors of Gloria Dei and all who have already written or who will write a personal message to me. I am grateful for your attention, your kindness, for your spiritual support and especially for your sacrifices and prayers for me. God may reward you!
