And the Two Become One Flesh by Veronica A. Arntz

A questionable interpretation of the parable of the wedding feast.

Lastly, through this improper reception of the Eucharist, we come to the wedding feast without the proper garment. In one of Christ’s parables, a king is hosting a marriage feast for his son, and after many of those invited rejected the invitation, the king brought in any from the streets who would come. Among these, however, “He {the king} saw there a man who had no wedding garment; and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless” (Matthew 22:11-12). This man was thrown “into the outer darkness” because he did not come properly dressed (Matthew 22:13). Thus, when we approach the Lord without having gone to the sacrament of Confession, and receive him unworthily, we are likewise approaching the wedding feast of the Lamb without the proper garment. Here, we see the eschatological purpose of the Church: if we do not participate in the Church with the right end of Heaven in mind, then we are doing a disservice to the Body of Christ. How will we be able to respond to the invitation to come to the “Spirit and the Bride” at the end of time, if during our whole lives as Christians we were not properly prepared to receive him? (Revelations 22:17). For the ultimate end of the Body of Christ is to enter the Mystical Body in Heaven, and to do that, we ought to be properly prepared to be part of the Body, and to receive the Eucharistic Body.

Is HPR so hard up for submissions that it is publishing essays by college seniors? (Even if that college is WCC.)

Our understanding of Christian marriage or natural marriage is dependent upon our understanding of the Church and its relation to Christ? Aristotle and Cicero, cited at the beginning of the essay, had no knowledge of the Mystery of Christ. One can just as easily say that the marriage crisis is due to the loss of faith, but what Christian trying to live in Christ doesn't realize that already?