261. "I take you to be my wife" - "I take you to be my husband."

YOUCAT Catechism + Catechism of the Catholic Church Lesson 261

Ave Maria series

261  How does the sacrament of Matrimony come about?

The sacrament of Matrimony comes about through a promise made by a man and a woman before God and the Church, which is accepted and confirmed by God and consummated by the bodily union of the couple.  Because God himself forms the bond of sacramental marriage, it is binding until the death of one of the partners.  [1625-1631]

So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love. –1 Corinthians 13:13.  My wife, RoseMarie, setting a Christmas dinner table for the family.….. 261

The man and the woman mutually administer the sacrament of Matrimony.  The priest or the deacon calls down God’s blessing on the couple and furthermore, witness that the marriage comes about under the right circumstances and that the promise is comprehensive and is made publicly.  A marriage can come about only if there is marital consent, that is, if the man and the woman enter marriage of their own free will, without fear or coercion, and if they are not prevented from marrying by other natural or ecclesiastical ties (for example, an existing marriage, a vow of celibacy).

“How can I ever express the happiness of a marriage joined by the Church…?  How wonderful the bond between two believers, now one in hope, one in desire, one in discipline, one in the same service…undivided in spirit and flesh, truly two in one flesh, Where the flesh is one, one also is the spirit.”  Tertullian (160-after 220, Latin ecclesiastical writer)

[1625-1631]

MATRIMONIAL CONSENT

1625 The parties to a marriage covenant are a baptized man and woman, free to contract marriage, who freely express their consent; "to be free" means:

- not being under constraint;

- not impeded by any natural or ecclesiastical law. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

1626 The Church holds the exchange of consent between the spouses to be the indispensable element that "makes the marriage."(Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 1057 § 1.)¹²⁷ If consent is lacking there is no marriage.--CCC

1627 The consent consists in a "human act by which the partners mutually give themselves to each other": "I take you to be my wife" - "I take you to be my husband."(Gaudium et Spes 48 § 1; Ordo Celebrandi Matrimonium 45; compare Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 1057 § 2.)¹²⁸ This consent that binds the spouses to each other finds its fulfillment in the two "becoming one flesh." (Genesis 2:24; compare Mark 10:8; Ephesians 5:31.)¹²⁹--CCC

1628 The consent must be an act of the will of each of the contracting parties, free of coercion or grave external fear.(Compare Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 1103.)¹³⁰ No human power can substitute for this consent.(Compare Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 1057 § 1.)¹³¹ If this freedom is lacking the marriage is invalid.--CCC

1629 For this reason (or for other reasons that render the marriage null and void) the Church, after an examination of the situation by the competent ecclesiastical tribunal, can declare the nullity of a marriage, i.e., that the marriage never existed.(Compare Codex Iuris Canonici, cann. 1095-1107.)¹³² In this case the contracting parties are free to marry, provided the natural obligations of a previous union are discharged.(Compare Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 1071.)¹³³--CCC

1630 The priest (or deacon) who assists at the celebration of a marriage receives the consent of the spouses in the name of the Church and gives the blessing of the Church. The presence of the Church's minister (and also of the witnesses) visibly expresses the fact that marriage is an ecclesial reality.--CCC

1631 This is the reason why the Church normally requires that the faithful contract marriage according to the ecclesiastical form. Several reasons converge to explain this requirement( Compare Council of Trent: Denzinger-Schonmetzer 1813-1816; Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 1108.)¹³⁴--CCC

- Sacramental marriage is a liturgical act. It is therefore appropriate that it should be celebrated in the public liturgy of the Church;

- Marriage introduces one into an ecclesial order, and creates rights and duties in the Church between the spouses and towards their children;

- Since marriage is a state of life in the Church, certainty about it is necessary (hence the obligation to have witnesses);

- The public character of the consent protects the "I do" once given and helps the spouses remain faithful to it.–CCC

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