3. But in the union of the sexes, apart from the Divine material law common to all living creatures, there is another Divine law which is immutable, as are all of God's laws, one that is exclusively moral, which is the law of love. God wishes all beings to unite themselves not only through the ties of the flesh, but also through those of the soul, so that the mutual affection of the spouses be transmitted to the offspring and that it should be two, and not just one, who love them, look after them and help them progress. Is the law of love taken into consideration in ordinary conditions within marriage? Not in the least. The mutual sentiments of two beings who are attracted one to the other are not consulted, since in the majority of cases this sentiment is severed. What is looked for is not the satisfaction of the heart but that of pride, vanity and cupidity; in a word, all material interests. When everything goes well according to these interests, it is said to be a marriage of convenience: when the pockets are well lined, it is said that the spouses are equally harmonized and should be very happy.
However, no civil laws nor the obligations which these laws determine can replace the law of love. If this does not preside over the union it frequently happens that those who were forcibly united separate themselves. The oath sworn at the foot of the altar, when pronounced as a banal formula, then becomes a perjury. For that reason we have unhappy marriages which end up becoming criminal, which is a double disgrace that could have been avoided if, on establishing the conditions for that marriage, the law of love which is the only law sanctioning the union in the eyes of God, had not been abstracted. When God said: "And they twain shall be one flesh," and when Jesus said: "What God hath joined together let no man put asunder," these words should he understood as a reference to the union according to God's immutable law and not according to the mutable laws of Man.
