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From INTER INSIGNIORES:
(The hyper-linked comments in italics are by John
Wijngaards)
29.
For the salvation offered by God to men and women, the union with
him to which they are called-in short, the Covenant took on, from the Old
Testament Prophets onwards, the privileged form of a nuptial mystery: for God
the Chosen People is seen as his ardently loved spouse. Both Jewish and
Christian tradition has discovered the depth of this intimacy of love by
reading and rereading the Song of Songs; the divine Bridegroom will remain
faithful even when the Bride betrays his love, when Israel is unfaithful to God
(cf. Hos. 1-3; Jer. 2). When the ‘fullness of time’ (Gal. 4:4) comes,
the Word, the Son of God, takes on flesh in order to establish and seal the new
and eternal Covenant in his blood, which will be shed for many so that sins may
be forgiven. His death will gather together again the scattered children of
God; from his pierced side will be born the Church, as Eve was born from
Adam’s side. At that time there is fully and eternally accomplished the
nuptial mystery proclaimed and hymned in the Old Testament: Christ is the
Bridegroom; the
30. Church is his bride, whom he loves because he has
gained her by his blood and made her glorious, holy and without blemish, and
henceforth he is inseparable from her. This nuptial theme, which is developed
from the Letters of Saint Paul onwards (cf. 2 Cor. 11 :2, Eph. 5 :22-23) to the
writings of Saint John (cf. especially Jn 3:29, Rev. 19:7, 9), is present also
in the Synoptic Gospels: the Bridegroom’s friends must not fast as long as
he is with them (cf. Mk 2:19); the Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who gave a
feast for his son’s wedding (cf. Mt. 22:1-14). It is through this
Scriptural language, all interwoven with symbols, and which expresses and
affects man and woman in their profound identity, that there is revealed to us
the mystery of God and Christ, a mystery which of itself is unfathomable.
31.
That is why we can never ignore the fact that Christ is a man. And
therefore, unless one is to disregard the importance of this symbolism for the
economy of Revelation, it must be admitted that, in actions which demand the
character of ordination and in which Christ himself, the author of the
Covenant, the Bridegroom and Head of the Church, is represented, exercising his
ministry of salvation-which is in the highest degree the case of the
Eucharist-his role (this is the original sense of the word persona) must
be taken by a man. This does not stem from any personal superiority of the
latter in the order of values, but only from a difference of fact on the level
of functions and service.
For the full text, see: INTER INSIGNIORES.
From the
Commentary by the Sacred
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the Declaration Inter
Insigniores:
99. However, the objectors continue: it would indeed be
important that Christ should be represented by a man if the maleness of Christ
played an essential part in the economy of salvation. But, they say, one cannot
accord gender a special place in the hypostatic union: what is essential is the
human nature-no more assumed by the word, not the incidental characteristics
such as the sex or even the race which he assumed. If the Church admits that
men of all races can validly represent Christ, why should she deny women this
ability to represent him?
100. We must first of all reply, in the words of the
declaration, that ethnic differences ‘do not affect the human person as
intimately as the difference of sex.’ On this point biblical teaching
agrees with modern psychology. The difference between the sexes however is
something willed by God from the beginning, according to the account in Genesis
(which is also quoted in the gospel), and is directed both to communion between
persons and to the begetting of human beings. And it must be affirmed first and
foremost that the fact that Christ is a man and not a woman is neither
incidental nor unimportant in relation to the economy of salvation.
101. In what sense? Not of course in the material sense, as
has sometimes been suggested in polemics in order to discredit it, but because
the whole economy of salvation has been revealed to us through essential
symbols from which it cannot be separated and without which we would be unable
to understand God’s design. Christ is the new Adam. God’s covenant
with men is presented in the Old Testament as a nuptial mystery, the definitive
reality of which is Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
102. The declaration briefly presents the stages marking the
progressive development of this biblical theme, the subject of many exegetical
and theological studies. Christ is the bridegroom of the Church, whom he won
for himself with his blood, and the salvation brought by him is the new
covenant: by using this language, revelation shows why the incarnation took
place according to the male gender, and makes it impossible to ignore this
historical reality. For this reason, only a man can take the part of Christ, be
a sign of his presence, in a word ‘represent’ him (that is, be an
effective sign of his presence) in the essential acts of the covenant.
103. Could one do without this biblical symbolism when
transmitting the message, in contemplating the mystery and in liturgical life?
To ask this, as has been done in certain recent studies, is to call into
question the whole structure of revelation and to reject the value of
scripture. It will be said, for example, that ‘in every period the
ecclesial community appeals to the authority it has received from its founder
in order to choose the images enabling it to receive God’s
revelation.’ This is perhaps to fail even more profoundly to appreciate
the human value of the nuptial theme m the revelation of God’s love.
For the full text, see: Official Commentary on INTER INSIGNIORES.
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