The marriage of two people is a holy union. It begins with your desire to form a lasting, lifelong partnership with another person in God’s love, and continues throughout your lives as an unfolding process of intentional living and growing together. In a marriage, each of you as an individual and together as a couple, gradually transform and mature in God’s presence and image. A wedding, then, is a sacred ritual that acknowledges and celebrates your desire to enter a lifelong relationship. It symbolizes the ending of former ways of life and other future possibilities, and establishes a particular pathway into the future – one that you promise to travel together.
By uniting within the context of a faith community, you recognize that God is active in the love you feel for one another, and you place your relationship in God’s care. You make your vows before God and the gathered community of family, friends and the Church, and receive the grace and blessing of God to help you fulfill your vows. Your marriage is a sacrament – an outward and visible sign of God’s grace bringing you together and nurturing your love.
