Sacrament of Matrimony

Marriage in the Catholic Church, also called matrimony, is the "covenant by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life and which is ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring", and which "has been raised by Christ the Lord. Matrimony is the marriage contract between Christians raised by Christ to the dignity of a sacrament. Marriage is a vocation for life because it is for lifetime. The intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state has been established by the Creator and endowed by him with its own proper laws. God himself is the author of marriage. The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures, and spiritual attitudes. These differences should not cause us to forget its common and permanent characteristics. Although the dignity of this institution is not transparent everywhere with the same clarity, some sense of the greatness of the matrimonial union exists in all cultures. The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life.

In a sacramental marriage, God’s love becomes present to the spouses in their total union and flows through them to their family and community. By their permanent, faithful and exclusive giving to each other, symbolized in sexual intercourse, the couple reveals something of God’s unconditional love. The sacrament of Christian marriage involves their entire life as they journey together through the ups and downs of marriage and become more able to give to and receive from each other. Their life becomes sacramental to the extent that the couple cooperates with God’s action in their life and sees themselves as living “in Christ” and Christ living and acting in their relationship, attitudes and actions.

The symbols of the sacrament of matrimony are rings, veils, coins/arrhae, cord and unity candle. The rings symbolize God’s unending love, just as the circle has no start or finish. The veils symbolize the love to his/her wife/husband. It shows owner and respect to the wife and husband and people. The coins/arrhae are used to symbolize wealth and blessing for the couple. The cord symbolizes unity, oneness and strengths. And lastly, the unity candle serve as the light.