The Blessed Virgin Mary, Restoration of Edenic Motherhood
Modern Christianity often speaks of the marriage bed as though it were pure, uncomplicated delight—an unmixed gift, innocent in itself, and untouched by the catastrophe of the Fall. That is a sentimental error. Perrenial Tradition is far more severe and far more realistic: marriage is good, but the marriage bed of fallen man is not Edenic innocence. It is generation after the Fall, marked by concupiscence, bodily loss, and the need for moral order.
To call every aspect of the marriage bed “beautiful” in the same sense that creation itself is beautiful is to flatten the doctrine of original sin. It is to forget that humanity now begets children in a wounded condition, under the shadow of mortality. Tradition never denies that marriage is lawful and honorable. What it denies is the modern fantasy that fallen desire is pure simply because it occurs inside a marriage bed. Marriage goods regulate and excuse what is otherwise disordered; it does not turn the wound into paradise.
This is precisely why virginity has always been praised above marriage in the Patristic and Scholastic tradition. Virginity does not despise marriage; it witnesses to a higher end. It refuses the concupiscent mode of generation that belongs to the fallen world and points instead to the resurrection, where “they neither marry nor are given in marriage.” In that sense, virginity is not a rejection of the body but a prophetic sign that the body is destined for a state beyond corruption.
The Blessed Mother stands as the supreme sign of this truth. She is not merely a mother but the Mother undefiled, the Virgin who bears without surrender, the one in whom generation is no longer ruled by the broken logic of desire. Her motherhood is not the ordinary fruit of fallen generation; it is a miracle of grace, a sign that God can produce fruitfulness without corruption. She is the refutation of the modern claim that bodily generation must be treated as intrinsically pure in itself. Catholic women religious follow this perfect model.
The point is not that marriage is bad. The point is that carnal marriage belongs to a wounded world and serves as a remedy within it. The point is not that the marital act is morally evil. The point is that it is no longer innocent, it is not untouched by the consequences of original sin. And precisely because of that, virginity and celibacy shine more brightly: they reveal what humanity was meant to be before the Fall, and what it will one day be again in glory.
Revelations to St. Britget of Sweden, 1 book, 26 chapter ...
Those who unite with divine love and fear for the sake of procreation and to raise children for the honor of God are my spiritual temple where I wish to dwell as the third with them.
But people in this age are joined in marriage for seven reasons: First, because of facial beauty. Second, because of wealth. Third, because of the despicable pleasure and indecent joy they get out of their impure intercourse. Fourth, because of feasts with friends and uncontrolled gluttony. Fifth, because of vanity in clothing and eating, in joking and entertainment and games and other vanities. Sixth, for the sake of procreating children but not to raise them for the honor of God or good works but for worldly riches and honor. Seventh, they come together for the sake of lust and they are like brute beasts in their lustful desires. They come to the doors of my church with one mind and consent, but all their desires and inner thoughts are completely against me. They prefer their own will, which aims at pleasing the world, instead of my will. If all their thoughts and wishes were directed toward me, and if they entrusted their will into my hands and entered into wedlock in fear of me, then I would give them my consent and be as the third with them. But now is my consent, which should be their most precious thing, gone from them, because they have lust in their heart and not my love. ...
They seek the warmth and sexual lust that will perish and love the flesh that will be eaten by worms. Therefore do such people join in marriage without the bond and union of God the Father and without the Son’s love and without the Holy Spirit’s consolation. When the couple comes to the bed, my Spirit leaves them immediately and the spirit of impurity approaches instead because they only come together for the sake of lust and do not discuss or think about anything else with each other. But my mercy is still with them if they will be converted to me. Because of my great love, I place a living soul created by my power into their seed. Sometimes I let evil parents give birth to good children, but more often, evil children are born of evil parents, since these children imitate the evil and unrighteous deeds of their parents as much as they are able and would imitate it even more if my patience allowed them. Such a married couple will never see my face unless they repent. For there is no sin so heavy or grave that penitence and repentance does not wash it away.
For that reason, I wish to turn to the spiritual marriage, the kind that is appropriate for God to have with a chaste soul and chaste body. There are seven good things in it opposed to the evils mentioned above: First, there is no desire for beauty of form or bodily beauty or lustful sights, but only for the sight and love of God. Second, there is no desire to possess anything else than what is needed to survive, and just the necessities with nothing in excess. Third, they avoid vain and frivolous talk. Fourth, they do not care about seeing friends or relatives, but I am their love and desire. Fifth, they desire to keep the humility inwardly in their conscience and outwardly in the way they dress. Sixth, they never have any will of leading lustful lives. Seventh, they beget sons and daughters for their God through their good behavior and good example and through the preaching of spiritual words.
They preserve their faith undefiled when they stand outside the doors of my church where they give me their consent and I give them mine. They go up to my altar when they enjoy the spiritual delight of my Body and Blood in which delight they wish to be of one heart and one body and one will with me, and I, true God and man, mighty in heaven and on earth, shall be as the third with them and will fill their heart. The worldly spouses begin their marriage in lustful desires like brute beasts, and even worse than brute beasts! But these spiritual spouses begin in love and fear of God and do not bother to please anyone but me. The evil spirit fills and incites those in the worldly marriage to carnal lust where there is nothing but unclean stench, but those in the spiritual marriage are filled with my Spirit and inflamed with the fire of my love that will never fail them.