Holy Matrimony

Christian Marriage, conferred in the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, is a sacred vocation.  It is a high and holy calling of a man and woman to be living witnesses of God’s free, total, faithful, and fruitful love for His people—living witnesses of Christ’s sacrificial love for His Bride, the Church.

“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her.”

Ephesians 5:25

God designed marriage to be a source of great joy for husband and wife.  It is our hope at St. Mary’s that we can help the couples in our parish experience this joy in their marriage by opening themselves to His abundant grace as they strive daily to grow in grace and virtue.

God made us to love and be loved, and through the unconditional love of a spouse, we can experience a taste of the unconditional love of heaven, which is our final union with God in eternity.

“The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a Sacrament.”

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church #1601