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Ephesians 5 Catechism
5:21-26 2204 "The Christian family constitutes a specific revelation and realization of
ecclesial communion, and for this reason it can and should be called a domestic
church." It is a community of faith, hope, and charity; it assumes singular importance
in the Church, as is evident in the New Testament.
5:21 1269 Having become a member of the Church, the person baptized belongs no longer
to himself, but to him who died and rose for us. From now on, he is called to be
subject to others, to serve them in the communion of the Church, and to "obey and
submit" to the Church's leaders, holding them in respect and affection. Just as
Baptism is the source of responsibilities and duties, the baptized person also enjoys
rights within the Church: to receive the sacraments, to be nourished with the Word of
God and to be sustained by the other spiritual helps of the Church.
1642 Christ is the source of this grace. "Just as of old God encountered his people
with a covenant of love and fidelity, so our Savior, the spouse of the Church, now
encounters Christian spouses through the sacrament of Matrimony." Christ dwells
with them, gives them the strength to take up their crosses and so follow him, to rise
again after they have fallen, to forgive one another, to bear one another's burdens, to
"be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ," and to love one another with
supernatural, tender, and fruitful love. In the joys of their love and family life he gives
them here on earth a foretaste of the wedding feast of the Lamb:

How can I ever express the happiness of a marriage joined by the

Church, strengthened by an offering, sealed by a blessing, announced by
angels, and ratified by the Father? . . . How wonderful the bond between
two believers, now one in hope, one in desire, one in discipline, one in
the same service! They are both children of one Father and servants of
the same Master, undivided in spirit and flesh, truly two in one flesh.
Where the flesh is one, one also is the spirit.

5:25-27 772 It is in the Church that Christ fulfills and reveals his own mystery as the purpose
of God's plan: "to unite all things in him." St. Paul calls the nuptial union of Christ and
the Church "a great mystery." Because she is united to Christ as to her bridegroom,
she becomes a mystery in her turn. Contemplating this mystery in her, Paul exclaims:
"Christ in you, the hope of glory."
5:25-26 757 "The Church, further, which is called 'that Jerusalem which is above' and 'our
mother', is described as the spotless spouse of the spotless lamb. It is she whom Christ
'loved and for whom he delivered himself up that he might sanctify her.' It is she
whom he unites to himself by an unbreakable alliance, and whom he constantly
'nourishes and cherishes.'"
1617 The entire Christian life bears the mark of the spousal love of Christ and the
Church. Already Baptism, the entry into the People of God, is a nuptial mystery; it is
so to speak the nuptial bath. which precedes the wedding feast, the Eucharist.
Christian marriage in its turn becomes an efficacious sign, the sacrament of the
covenant of Christ and the Church. Since it signifies and communicates grace,
marriage between baptized persons is a true sacrament of the New Covenant..
5:25 616 It is love "to the end" that confers on Christ's sacrifice its value as redemption
and reparation, as atonement and satisfaction. He knew and loved us all when he
offered his life. Now "the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that
one has died for all; therefore all have died." No man, not even the holiest, was ever
able to take on himself the sins of all men and offer himself as a sacrifice for all. The
existence in Christ of the divine person of the Son, who at once surpasses and
embraces all human persons, and constitutes himself as the Head of all mankind,
makes possible his redemptive sacrifice for all.

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1659 St. Paul said: "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church. . . . This
is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the Church" (Eph 5:25, 32).
5:26-27 757 "The Church, further, which is called 'that Jerusalem which is above' and 'our
mother', is described as the spotless spouse of the spotless lamb. It is she whom Christ
'loved and for whom he delivered himself up that he might sanctify her.' It is she
whom he unites to himself by an unbreakable alliance, and whom he constantly
'nourishes and cherishes.'"
1617 The entire Christian life bears the mark of the spousal love of Christ and the
Church. Already Baptism, the entry into the People of God, is a nuptial mystery; it is
so to speak the nuptial bath. which precedes the wedding feast, the Eucharist.
Christian marriage in its turn becomes an efficacious sign, the sacrament of the
covenant of Christ and the Church. Since it signifies and communicates grace,
marriage between baptized persons is a true sacrament of the New Covenant..
5:26 628 Baptism, the original and full sign of which is immersion, efficaciously signifies
the descent into the tomb by the Christian who dies to sin with Christ in order to live a
new life. "We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ
was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of
life."
796 The unity of Christ and the Church, head and members of one Body, also implies
the distinction of the two within a personal relationship. This aspect is often expressed
by the image of bridegroom and bride. The theme of Christ as Bridegroom of the
Church was prepared for by the prophets and announced by John the Baptist. The
Lord referred to himself as the "bridegroom." The Apostle speaks of the whole
Church and of each of the faithful, members of his Body, as a bride "betrothed" to
Christ the Lord so as to become but one spirit with him. The Church is the spotless
bride of the spotless Lamb. "Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that
he might sanctify her." He has joined her with himself in an everlasting covenant and
never stops caring for her as for his own body:

This is the whole Christ, head and body, one formed from many . . . whether the head or
members speak, it is Christ who speaks. He speaks in his role as the head (ex persona
capitis) and in his role as body (ex persona corporis). What does this mean? "The two
will become one flesh. This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the
Church." And the Lord himself says in the Gospel: "So they are no longer two, but one
flesh." They are, in fact, two different persons, yet they are one in the conjugal union, . .
. as head, he calls himself the bridegroom, as body, he calls himself "bride."

1228 Hence Baptism is a bath of water in which the "imperishable seed" of the Word
of God produces its life-giving effect. St. Augustine says of Baptism: "The word is
brought to the material element, and it becomes a sacrament."
5:27 773 In the Church this communion of men with God, in the "love [that] never ends,"
is the purpose which governs everything in her that is a sacramental means, tied to
this passing world. "[The Church's] structure is totally ordered to the holiness of
Christ's members. And holiness is measured according to the 'great mystery' in which
the Bride responds with the gift of love to the gift of the Bridegroom." Mary goes
before us all in the holiness that is the Church's mystery as "the bride without spot or
wrinkle." This is why the "Marian" dimension of the Church precedes the "Petrine."
796 The unity of Christ and the Church, head and members of one Body, also implies
the distinction of the two within a personal relationship. This aspect is often expressed
by the image of bridegroom and bride. The theme of Christ as Bridegroom of the
Church was prepared for by the prophets and announced by John the Baptist. The
Lord referred to himself as the "bridegroom." The Apostle speaks of the whole
Church and of each of the faithful, members of his Body, as a bride "betrothed" to
Christ the Lord so as to become but one spirit with him. The Church is the spotless

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bride of the spotless Lamb. "Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that
he might sanctify her." He has joined her with himself in an everlasting covenant and
never stops caring for her as for his own body:

This is the whole Christ, head and body, one formed from many . . . whether the head or
members speak, it is Christ who speaks. He speaks in his role as the head (ex persona
capitis) and in his role as body (ex persona corporis). What does this mean? "The two
will become one flesh. This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the
Church." And the Lord himself says in the Gospel: "So they are no longer two, but one
flesh." They are, in fact, two different persons, yet they are one in the conjugal union, . .
. as head, he calls himself the bridegroom, as body, he calls himself "bride."

1426 Conversion to Christ, the new birth of Baptism, the gift of the Holy Spirit and
the Body and Blood of Christ received as food have made us "holy and without
blemish," just as the Church herself, the Bride of Christ, is "holy and without
blemish." Nevertheless the new life received in Christian initiation has not abolished
the frailty and weakness of human nature, nor the inclination to sin that tradition calls
concupiscence, which remains in the baptized such that with the help of the grace of
Christ they may prove themselves in the struggle of Christian life. This is the struggle
of conversion directed toward holiness and eternal life to which the Lord never ceases
to call us.
5:29 757 "The Church, further, which is called 'that Jerusalem which is above' and 'our
mother', is described as the spotless spouse of the spotless lamb. It is she whom Christ
'loved and for whom he delivered himself up that he might sanctify her.' It is she
whom he unites to himself by an unbreakable alliance, and whom he constantly
'nourishes and cherishes.'"
796 The unity of Christ and the Church, head and members of one Body, also implies
the distinction of the two within a personal relationship. This aspect is often expressed
by the image of bridegroom and bride. The theme of Christ as Bridegroom of the
Church was prepared for by the prophets and announced by John the Baptist. The
Lord referred to himself as the "bridegroom." The Apostle speaks of the whole
Church and of each of the faithful, members of his Body, as a bride "betrothed" to
Christ the Lord so as to become but one spirit with him. The Church is the spotless
bride of the spotless Lamb. "Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that
he might sanctify her." He has joined her with himself in an everlasting covenant and
never stops caring for her as for his own body:

This is the whole Christ, head and body, one formed from many . . . whether the head or
members speak, it is Christ who speaks. He speaks in his role as the head (ex persona
capitis) and in his role as body (ex persona corporis). What does this mean? "The two
will become one flesh. This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the
Church." And the Lord himself says in the Gospel: "So they are no longer two, but one
flesh." They are, in fact, two different persons, yet they are one in the conjugal union, . .
. as head, he calls himself the bridegroom, as body, he calls himself "bride."

5:31-32 796 The unity of Christ and the Church, head and members of one Body, also implies
the distinction of the two within a personal relationship. This aspect is often expressed
by the image of bridegroom and bride. The theme of Christ as Bridegroom of the
Church was prepared for by the prophets and announced by John the Baptist. The
Lord referred to himself as the "bridegroom." The Apostle speaks of the whole
Church and of each of the faithful, members of his Body, as a bride "betrothed" to
Christ the Lord so as to become but one spirit with him. The Church is the spotless
bride of the spotless Lamb. "Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that
he might sanctify her." He has joined her with himself in an everlasting covenant and
never stops caring for her as for his own body:

This is the whole Christ, head and body, one formed from many . . . whether the head or

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members speak, it is Christ who speaks. He speaks in his role as the head (ex persona
capitis) and in his role as body (ex persona corporis). What does this mean? "The two
will become one flesh. This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the
Church." And the Lord himself says in the Gospel: "So they are no longer two, but one
flesh." They are, in fact, two different persons, yet they are one in the conjugal union, . .
. as head, he calls himself the bridegroom, as body, he calls himself "bride."

1602 Sacred Scripture begins with the creation of man and woman in the image and
likeness of God and concludes with a vision of "the wedding-feast of the Lamb."
Scripture speaks throughout of marriage and its "mystery," its institution and the
meaning God has given it, its origin and its end, its various realizations throughout the
history of salvation, the difficulties arising from sin and its renewal "in the Lord" in
the New Covenant of Christ and the Church.
1616 This is what the Apostle Paul makes clear when he says: "Husbands, love your
wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify
her," adding at once: "'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be
joined to his wife, and the two shall become one. This is a great mystery, and I mean
in reference to Christ and the Church."
5:31 1627 The consent consists in a "human act by which the partners mutually give
themselves to each other": "I take you to be my wife" - "I take you to be my
husband." This consent that binds the spouses to each other finds its fulfillment in the
two "becoming one flesh."
5:32 772 It is in the Church that Christ fulfills and reveals his own mystery as the purpose
of God's plan: "to unite all things in him." St. Paul calls the nuptial union of Christ and
the Church "a great mystery." Because she is united to Christ as to her bridegroom,
she becomes a mystery in her turn. Contemplating this mystery in her, Paul exclaims:
"Christ in you, the hope of glory."
1624 The various liturgies abound in prayers of blessing and epiclesis asking God's
grace and blessing on the new couple, especially the bride. In the epiclesis of this
sacrament the spouses receive the Holy Spirit as the communion of love of Christ and
the Church. The Holy Spirit is the seal of their covenant, the ever available source of
their love and the strength to renew their fidelity.
1659 St. Paul said: "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church. . . . This
is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the Church" (Eph 5:25, 32).

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