WHAT IS MARRIAGE?

It is easier sometimes to explain what marriage is not.
Marriage is not a private friendship;
It is not a private love affair.
It is not about my needs or fulfillment.
It is not about me being completed as a human being.
It is not about me, at all!

• Marriage is a verbal covenant (an agreement based on love) between a male and female. Marriage reflects a deep reality – the reality of the unique, fruitful, lifelong union that is only possible between a man and a woman.
• Marriage is God’s first and immediate gift after the creation of Man and Woman.
• Marriage is the lifelong partnership of mutual and exclusive fidelity

between a man and a woman ordered by its very nature to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of children (see Catechism of the Catholic Church # 1601; Canon 1055.1; Gaudium et Spes , no. 48).

• The bond of marriage is indissoluble – that is, it lasts “until death do us part.” At the heart of married love is the total gift of self that husband and wife freely offer to each other. Because of their sexual difference, husband and wife can truly become “one flesh” and can give to each other “the reality of children, who are a living reflection of their love.”
• Marriage is a unique relationship between two specific persons, one man and one woman. So that the two may become one flesh. And by becoming one, there is the possibility of a third-the child, the personification of their love.
• It is the giving of the male, and the receiving of the female. The anatomy of the body of the male and female speak of this complementarity.
• Marriage is a state of life.
• Marriage is a true vocation. (Called by God)
• Marriage creates a sacred bond between the male and female.

How is it possible that two different people with totally separate upbringings, opposite temperaments, and opposing personalities can come together to live under one roof in peace and harmony until death do them part?

Since marriage is a vocation, a call to holiness, a state in life God gives one the grace to fulfill their state in life. On our part, we must cooperate with God’s grace.

The Sacramental Bond of Marriage is given by the free will consent of the baptized partners. It is the consent that makes the marriage. The Bond takes effect when the physical act consummates the verbal consent.

The sacramental, consummated Bond is absolutely indissoluble: it is one of the clearest teachings of Christ. It is not a Church Law, it is the words of the Lord, Himself. And there is no authority one earth, including the Pope who has the power to change the words of God.