One Flesh Union - Man and Wife

What is the One Flesh Union concerning man and wife?

I posted this question in the Biblical studies section because I think it is a beautiful mystery to ponder.

In this section, I have posted two questions along the same lines to get a contrast of the differences in how we view this mystery.

I'll answer first in order to give anyone who will participate a platform from which to jump.

As Catholics, we believe these words, if not literally at least profoundly:

Genesis 2:24
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

Matthew 19:
5And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?6Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Ephesians 5:
30For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

And we believe it has a great deal to do with what we refer to as the "marital act". That is the time when man and wife join together in the physical act of love making which confirms the oath they have just taken before God.

This marital act is so important, that without it, the oath of love performed before the Community of Faith is not considered consummated or completed until it is performed at least once.

And everytime it is performed, it is considered a repetition of the oath given before God, to love each other til death.

The CCC says it thus:
1643 "Conjugal love involves a totality, in which all the elements of the person enter - appeal of the body and instinct, power of feeling and affectivity, aspiration of the spirit and of will. It aims at a deeply personal unity, a unity that, beyond union in one flesh, leads to forming one heart and soul; it demands indissolubility and faithfulness in definitive mutual giving; and it is open to fertility. In a word it is a question of the normal characteristics of all natural conjugal love, but with a new significance which not only purifies and strengthens them, but raises them to the extent of making them the expression of specifically Christian values."

Note how we believe, that in thus embracing each other, man and wife are speaking and expressing their Christian values. These Christian values specifically address openness to life according to God's will.

Sincerely,

De Maria