What makes a marriage?  Is it a legal ceremony and a marriage license? Is it a Church ceremony with organ, candles, and priests?  Is it the bodily union of the partners?  

The Catholic church teaches that while all of these are important, none is what cements the marriage bond. Marriage is a covenant, a relationship established through the free, informed consent of both parties. It happens when two people who are free to marry and are physically and emotionally capable of marriage give themselves to each other, understanding that marriage means openness to life and commitment to faithful love till death. 

When that happens between two unbaptized people, a natural marriage bond is formed that is greatly respected by the Catholic Church. When it happens between two baptized persons, the Holy Spirit is poured out and the natural bond is elevated to a supernatural sacrament. 

The natural blessings of marriage are the companionship, mutual support and intimacy of the spouses plus the possibility of sharing in God’s creative, life-giving work – the procreation and education of children. In a sacramental marriage, there is an additional goal – the spouses accept the vocation to be a prophetic, visible sign of the unbreakable covenant between Christ and His Church.   In both these cases, God has joined the couple and the two have become one – the first on a natural level, the second on both natural and supernatural levels.

For those who are married or contemplating marriage, know that the Church’s teaching comes from the Lord Himself and that is a testimony not to some sort of old-fashioned prudishness, but rather to the power and beauty of a state in life that points beyond itself to heaven.
 

Marcellino D'Ambrosio, Ph.D.