The sacrament of marriage is a visible sign of God's love for the Church. When a man and a woman are married in the Church, they receive the grace needed for a lifelong bond of unity.

Marriage is a Covenant

The Sacrament of Marriage is a covenantal union in the image of the covenants between God and his people with Abraham and later with Moses at Mt. Sinai. This divine covenant can never be broken. In this way, marriage is a union that bonds spouses together during their entire lifetime.

The sacramen t of M at rimon y signifies the un ion o f Chri st and the Church. It giv e s sp o uses  t he gr ac e to love each other with th e l o ve w i th wh i ch Christ has lov e d his Chur c h; the g r ace o f t h e sacra me n t thu s per fe cts t he hu man lo ve o f th e spou s e s , s tr e ng the n s t heir ind iss olu b le u nit y , and s anctif ies t he m o n th e way to e te r na l l i f e. (CCC   1661)

The love in a married relationship is exemplified in the total gift of one's self to another. It's this self-giving and self-sacrificing love that we see in our other model of marriage, the relationship between Christ and the Church.

M ar ri ag e is b a sed on t he c o n se nt o f t he con t racting p a rt i es, Chat i s, o n t h ei r will t o give them se l ve s , each to the o ther , m u tu ally an d d efi ni ti ve ly, i n o rder t o li v e a c o ve na nt of fa ithful a n d fru i tfu l l ove.(CCC   166 2 j

The Church takes the lifelong nature of the Sacrament of Marriage seriously. The Church teaches that a break in this covenant teaches goes against the natural law of God:

Th e remarr ia g e o f p e r s o n s di vorced fr om a l i vi ng , l a w fu l s po u s e co n t ravene s the plan and l a w o f G od as t a ught by Ch r ist . The y a r e not sepa rat ed f r om the C hu r ch , but they ca nno t r ec e ive E u c haristic c omm un ion . They will l ead Ch r is t i a n l ives esp eci ally by educa ting thei r chi l d ren i n the faith . (CCC   1665)

Marriage Reflects the Holy Trinity

We believe that God exists in eternal communion. Together, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are united in one being with no beginning and no end. Human beings, likewise, were created by God in God's image for the purpose of communion with another human being.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "The Christian family is a communion of persons, a sign and image of the communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit" (CCC 2205). The Sacrament of Marriage is "unitive, indissoluble and calls us to be completely open to fertility." Christian marriage at its finest is a reflection of God's self-giving love expressed between the love of two people.