By JOE SIXPACK
Henry VIII was a loyal Catholic from his birth (1491) until the 1530s — so much so, in fact, that as the Protestant Revolt (Reformation) heated up in Europe, he was declared Defender of the Faith by Pope Leo X for the publication of his Defense of the Seven Sacraments as a treatise against the heresies of continental Protestants.
But this changed when Henry took a fancy to Lady Anne Boleyn and tried to set aside his marriage to Catherine of Aragon by asking the Church to grant him an annulment. Every one of Henry’s requests was met with a sound “no,” but he wouldn’t give up. He finally took his demand for a decree of nullity directly to the Pope, but the Holy Father stood his ground and upheld the ancient teachings of the Church on marriage between one man and one woman. The Pope feared that Henry would separate England from the Catholic Church, and that’s exactly what finally happened.
On December 17, 1538, Pope Paul III excommunicated Henry VIII for attempting marriage outside the Church and declaring himself head of the Church in England, which is why the world has the Anglican Church today. In defiance of God’s law that marriage is between one man and one woman for life, Henry divorced himself from Catherine of Aragon and attempted marriage to Anne Boleyn.
One evening Anne and Henry were standing at a window, looking out at the beautiful brilliance of the stars. The young queen’s heart softened, perhaps recalling the innocence of her childhood. Deeply moved by God’s creation, she said, “How beautiful the starry sky is. But how much more beautiful it must be beyond the stars, in Heaven, with God.”
When Henry heard these words, he took Anne by the hand and led her from the window. With his head bowed, he said, “Anne, that is not for us.”
Henry VIII defied the laws of God and the Catholic Church. God forbids divorce and remarriage. For anyone to be married — that is, to receive the Sacrament of Matrimony — the marriage must take place before an authorized priest or deacon and two witnesses. When Henry declared himself divorced from Catherine and went through the motions of a marriage to Anne, he placed himself outside the Catholic Church.
Henry knew, as is evidenced by his words to Anne Boleyn, that he was living in a state of mortal sin and excommunication, which means he knew he had chosen the damnation of lust over eternity with God.
Marriage had always been intended as a natural bond between one man and one woman, but Jesus raised marriage to the level of a sacrament and made it indissoluble when He said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one. So they are no longer two but one. What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder” (Matt. 19:5-6). And Jesus placed His divine stamp of approval on Matrimony when He performed His first public miracle at the wedding feast at Cana by turning the water into wine (John 2:1-11).
The modern counterculture has become the mainstream culture, and it is a throwaway culture. Everything today is disposable. So imbued are we with disposability that we even dispose of our preborn children through abortion and contraception, and our marriages when the going gets a little tough.
Although civil divorce allows for the division of property and establishes for the care of children produced in a broken home, it isn’t possible for divorce to break the marriage bond that exists between husband and wife — a court’s declaration that a marriage is broken in no way alters God’s law that says it isn’t. That bond lasts until the death of one of the spouses.
Jesus said that in Matrimony the man and woman become one person, so it isn’t possible for the bond to be broken until death. Catholic couples who divorce and attempt to remarry do the same thing Henry VIII did, and they need to realize, like Henry, that they subject themselves to the same condemnation.
Many modern Catholics think that when they divorce they can automatically get an annulment from the Church and be freed to remarry. This is not the case. When the Church issues a decree of nullity, it’s because it has been judged that a bond never existed in the first place due to some serious impediment that existed before the sacrament was attempted.
Because modern Catholics think they have a right to a decree of nullity, many of them divorce and remarry without that “formality.” This means they have attempted marriage outside the Church, live in an adulterous relationship, live in a chronic state of mortal sin, and commit the additional mortal sin of sacrilege each time they receive Holy Communion.
When Catholic couples find themselves in divorce court, the cause, regardless of the reasons given at the time, can almost always be traced back to one of two things: They either engaged in premarital sex, or they used contraception in their marriage. Premarital sex establishes an immediate aura of distrust, even if it only becomes consciously evident years later. Contraception removes one of the twofold purposes of marriage as intended by God and turns the spouses into objects of sexual pleasure. It is usually the woman who becomes the object of sexual pleasure (rather than a person), and she is degraded because of it. This is the worst sort of feminine abuse.
When a Catholic couple obey the ordinary marriage law of the Church and are wed in the sight of God, they embrace a sacrament that is much more than a mere rite or ceremony. If they will but avail themselves of its great power, the Sacrament of Matrimony can save even the most contentious marriages.
If Catholics will simply live within marriage as God demands — that is, to be faithful and avoid the use of contraception — they will discover a whole other dimension to Christian marriage. As a natural extension of the giving of love, God gives the spouses all the graces necessary to help one another grow in holiness. Just as children produced in the marital bond are a manifestation of marital love, so too is a positive response to God’s graces by the parents to help their children become a holy manifestation of that love.
In other words, if Catholic couples will but obey God’s laws within their marriage, there would never be a need for families to become broken. This isn’t to say every day will be one of marital bliss, as there are always pressures from both within and outside the marriage, but it is possible for your marriage to be happy for your entire life.
If you have a question or comment you can reach out to me through the “Ask Joe” page of JoeSixpackAnswers.com, or you can email me at Joe@CantankerousCatholic.com.
Hey, how would you like to see things like this article every week in your parish bulletin as an insert? You or your pastor can learn more about how to do that by emailing me at Joe@CantankerousCatholic.com.
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