Matrimonial Consent!

Song of Solomon 2:16

My beloved is mine and I am his.

In the Western Church, the priest does not “marry” people. He is the witness to, not the minister of, the Sacrament of Marriage. The ministers of the Sacrament of Marriage are the husband and wife, who give the Sacrament to each other. This mutual self-giving love is the most vivid earthly image we have of the mutual self-giving love of the Blessed Trinity and of the love Christ has for his Church. It is light years from the secular picture of Marriage as a “contract” where each party has to guard its “rights.” In Marriage we give ourselves completely as Christ gave himself completely. Any vision of Marriage less than this is not the Christian vision. Today, thank God for his total gift of himself to us and ask him to give you the grace to give your life away for his sake!

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