Matrimony
"When Jesus finished these words, he left Galilee and went to the district of Judea across the Jordan. Great crowds followed him, and he cured them there. Some Pharisees approached him, and tested him, saying, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his
wife for any cause whatever?' He said in reply, 'Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female' and said, 'For this reason
a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two
shall become one flesh? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore,
what God has joined together, no human being must separate.'"
(Matthew 19: 1-6)
"St. Paul said: 'Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church. This is a great mystery, and I mean in reference to Christ and the Church' (Eph 5:25, 32). The marriage covenant, by which a man and a woman form with each other an intimate communion of life and love, has been founded and endowed with its own special laws by the Creator. By its very nature it is ordered to the good of the couple, as well as to the generation and education of children. Christ the Lord raised marriage between the baptized to the dignity of a sacrament (cf. CIC, can. 1055 § 1; cf. GS 48 § 1). The sacrament of Matrimony signifies the union of Christ and the Church. It gives spouses the grace to love each other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church; the grace of the sacrament thus perfects the human love of the spouses, strengthens their indissoluble unity, and sanctifies them on the way to eternal life (cf. Council of Trent:DS 1799)."
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1659-1661)
Preparations for matrimony must begin at least six months prior to an anticipated date of marriage.
A preparation meeting for matrimony is scheduled with the pastor. Please contact the church office at 740-522-5270 to make an appointment with the pastor.