Section 4 | Rule 17: The Custos’ Sacred Duty to Present His Wife to God

Let the Custos be aware that he and his wife and their perpetual pledge of fidelity to one another constitute the Sacrament of Matrimony. They are no longer two, but one flesh. Even though the spouses are distinct persons, they are one in Matrimony. The vow of fidelity in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, in poverty and in riches, till death separates the spouses, coupled with the two being one flesh, indicates that the Custos is to live according to the maxim that husband and wife “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2). Therefore, let the Custos present his wife to God “that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27).

To present his wife to God demands that the husband stand firm in his relationship with her, fostering an intimacy with her that ever deepens his knowledge of her. This knowledge of his wife, including her spiritual and corporal burdens and desires, he presents to God in prayer—in union with himself. As mentioned previously, the husband is to understand his wife as a completion of himself; therefore, if he neglects to present his wife and her needs to God, his presentation of himself to God is incomplete.

Devin Schadt | Executive Director of the Fathers of St. Joseph

Ite ad Joseph