The Catholic Church offers and indeed requires that couples prepare for the Sacramnet of Holy Matrimony. Each couple should seek a meeting with a priest at least six months before there is any discussion as to future dates and times. This preparation should be done prior to the setting a date for the marriage Nuptial Mass. It is in that way couples may take advantage of prayer, frequent confession and Holy Communion, as well as a formal program of preparation to assist in continuing discernment and to deepen their understaning of God’s belssing and the meaning of the sacrament. It is after this time of preparation and refection when together the couple may set a date for marriage.
Being married is certainly one of the most momentous, serious and yet joyful moments in the life of a man and woman. God founded the institution of marriage, being the life-long and irrevocable union of one man and one woman. It is God’s design that man and woman should complete each other and draw strength from each other and contribute to one another’s spiritual growth. Jesus made the exchange of mariatal consent between man and woman as a conveyer of grace and there for a sacrament. “What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder” (Matthew 19:6.)
In addition to the conferring of grace, another effect of the sacrament of Matrimony as one author wrote “is the forging of the marriage bond, a moral change wrought in the souls of the married couple.” From this bond comes three very important understandings of marriage. The first is there be unity; which means that a man can have only one wife and a woman only one husband. They are indeed two in one flesh, not many in one flesh. The second is that the union is indissoluble, meaning that marriage is a permanent union. And the third understanding is that the union shall be open to the possibility of bringing children into the world. Anyone becoming married in the Catholic Church must know and understand these, even if one of the couple is not Catholic.
Marriage is also a vocation, a state of life upon which will depend the salvation of the man and the woman and of their children. Indeed, the first repsonsibility of the man and the woman is to assist each other in the goal of attaining heaven.
If you plan to marry at St. Mary the Virgin, you may click on the links for Fully Engaged as well as Natural Family Planning to learn more about these required prenuptial programs. Then please contact the parish office so that we may assist you in your preparation as to understanding the importance, the meaning and the obligation of Holy Matrimony.