Implications of Marriage

Marriage brings to the spouses the mutual obligation of rendering the debt, as it is called; that is, of surrendering the body to the generative act.

This sacred duty is to be rendered by either spouse atthe will of the other, whether this will be expressed explicitly or indicated implicitly.

In the rendering of the marriage debt, husband and wife are on a plane of perfect equality; both are equally in command;both are equally held to obey.

Since marriage involves the duty of rendering the debt,neither spouse, without the full and free consent of the other, is free to make a vow which conflicts with marriage duty. If one spouse should make such a vow without the consent of the other, he sins. Nor must he keep the vow. Instead, he must do penance for avow unlawfully made.

It is wise and prudent, if there be no danger ofconcupiscence, for spouses to abstain sometimes from the use of the marital act, for instance, on holy days.

Yet there is no serious obligation on spouses of practicing such abstention. And one spouse cannot justly enforceabstention on the other, even at times when it seems suitable for reasons of piety or religion. Recurrent physical inconvenience onthe part of the wife makes it most suitable that the husbandabstain, but if the marriage debt be demanded, even in these seasons, it is not to be refused.

The Church has wisely decreed that marriage (which maybe lawfully enacted at any time) is not to be ceremoniouslycelebrated, with nuptial Mass and blessing, during the seasons of penance called Advent and Lent.