Meeting and Discernment
Love is born, grows, and raises the question: “Is this the one?” This time of discernment is precious—it is good to spend it in prayer and, if possible, with a spiritual guide.
Vocation to Marriage
Marriage, a Symbol of God's Love
“When a man and a woman celebrate the sacrament of marriage, God is, as it were, ‘mirrored’ in them; he impresses in them his own features and the indelible character of his love” — Francis, Apostolic Exhortation (19 March 2016), 121.
Marriage is one of the three states of life through which a baptized Christian is called to serve the Church. It is a precious and profound sign, rooted in creation and elevated to the rank of a sacrament by Christ.
In virtue of the sacrament the spouses are invested with a true and proper mission, so that, starting with the simple ordinary things of life they can make visible the love with which Christ loves his Church
— Francis, Apostolic Exhortation (19 March 2016), 121.
Indeed, God Himself is communion: the three Persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—have always lived and will always live in perfect unity.
I see a great urgency today: to help young people to discover that , a specific calling that God addresses to a man and a women so that they can fully realize themselves as generative, becoming a father and a mother, and bringing the Grace of their Sacrament into the world. This Grace is the love of Christ united with that of the married couple, His presence between them, it is God’s fidelity to their love: it is He who gives them the strength to grow together every day and to remain united. — Address of his Holiness Pope Francis to the Couple Responsible for the Equipe Notre-Dame Movement (4 May 2024)
What does it mean to be married ?
Live
The greatest friendship
Marital love is “a form of intimate and all-encompassing friendship” that involves the mutual pursuit of the other’s good, shared tenderness, and fidelity, and builds communion day by day.
A Path to Sanctification
Marriage is a path to mutual sanctification. Spouses lead one another toward God:
Each spouse is for the other a sign and instrument of the closeness of the Lord, who never abandons us.
Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia
Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia
A Bond for Eternity
Those who love do not imagine that this relationship could last only for a time. The “forever” of marriage fulfills the deepest longing of the human heart.
Be
A Mirror of God
It is within the human family, united by Christ, that it is restored: In the human family, gathered by Christ, ‘the image and likeness’ of the Most Holy Trinity has been restored, the mystery from which all true love flows.
Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia
A Domestic Church
The family is the first Christian community. Husband and wife are priests, prophets, and kings for their home—the first school of faith, prayer, and love.
A Mission in the Church
The goal is to make Christ’s love for his Church visible through simple, everyday actions.
The Church tells us that today’s world needs the marriage covenant in order to know and accept God’s love.
Homily of the Holy Father Leo XIV for the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents and the Elderly (1 June 2025).
The Church tells us that today’s world needs the marriage covenant in order to know and accept God’s love.
Homily of the Holy Father Leo XIV for the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents and the Elderly (1 June 2025).
The Dimensions of Christian Marriage
The sacrament of marriage is characterized by three fundamental dimensions that make it a unique sign of God’s alliance with humanity.
Unity
Marriage unites a man and a woman into one flesh. This total communion of life excludes any form of polygamy and calls for a mutual and exclusive self-giving.
Indissolubility
“Forever” is not merely a social formality. The union brought about by the marriage vow: Man and woman are called to form a unique, personal, complete, and enduring relationship in marriage: an exclusive covenant of life and love that takes precedence even over blood relations
— Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith, Una Caro
— Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith, Una Caro
Fertility
Marital love is, by its very nature, open to life: The love received and given is not confined to the marital relationship but becomes creative and life-giving. (…) The distinction and reciprocity of the human couple are a sign of God's love not only as the basis of a vocation to communion, but also for the purpose of procreative fruitfulness.
— John-Paul II, General Audience (7 February 2001), 4.
— John-Paul II, General Audience (7 February 2001), 4.
« A man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. »
Ephesians 5, 31
What the Church Says
« Conjugal love is the “greatest form of friendship”. It is a union possessing all the traits of a good friendship: concern for the good of the other, reciprocity, intimacy, warmth, stability and the resemblance born of a shared life. »
— Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia
« Because the Lord is witness between you and the wife of your youth with whom you have broken faith, though she is your companion, your covenanted wife. (…) You should be on guard, then, for your life, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. For I hate divorce. »
— Malachi 2, 14-16
« Those who marry do not expect their excitement to fade. Those who witness the celebration of a loving union, however fragile, trust that it will pass the test of time. (…) These and similar signs show that it is in the very nature of conjugal love to be definitive. »
— Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia
The Steps of Discernment
A Christian marriage cannot be improvised. It is prepared through prayer, guidance, and the joy of a freely given commitment before God and the Church.
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