The basic cell of society is the family, founded upon marriage. The Catholic bishops of the United States recognize the importance of promoting holy and healthy marriages. Here you will find information on the Church's teaching regarding marriage and family; resources for engaged couples and marriage at every stage; encouragement for living family life as a domestic church; and news of ongoing initiatives of the USCCB that support and promote marriage and family life.
"Among the many blessings that God has showered upon us in Christ is the blessing of marriage, a gift bestowed by the Creator from the creation of the human race…It is a source of blessing to the couple, to their families, and to society and includes the wondrous gift of co-creating human life." USCCB, Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 2009.
NATIONAL MARRIAGE WEEK
FEBRUARY 7TH - FEBRUARY 14TH
Marriage is a Covenant
Engaged couples planning on getting married please contact the parish office at (440)428-5164 or by email at office@iccmadison.com
The love in a married relationship is exemplified in the total gift of one’s self to another. It’s this self-giving and self-sacrificing love that we see in our other model of marriage, the relationship between Christ and the Church.
Marriage and Family Life
The basic cell of society is the family, founded upon marriage. The Catholic bishops recognize the importance of promoting holy and healthy marriages.Here you will find information on the Church's teaching regarding marriage and family; resources for engaged couples and marriage at every stage
Love and Life in the Divine Plan
U.S. Catholic Bishops approved a pastoral letter called “Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan.” The letter presents the essential points of Catholic teaching on marriage as a natural gift, as a sacrament, and as a public commitment between a man and a woman.
SACRAMENT OF MARRIAGE
Sacred Scripture begins with the creation and union of man and woman and ends with "the wedding feast of the Lamb" (Rev 19:7, 9). Scripture often refers to marriage, its origin and purpose, the meaning God gave to it, and its renewal in the covenant made by Jesus with his Church. Man and woman were created for each other.
By their marriage, the couple witnesses Christ's spousal love for the Church. One of the Nuptial Blessings in the liturgical celebration of marriage refers to this in saying, "Father, you have made the union of man and wife so holy a mystery that it symbolizes the marriage of Christ and his Church."
The Sacrament of Marriage is a covenant, which is more than a contract. Covenant always expresses a relationship between persons. The marriage covenant refers to the relationship between the husband and wife, a permanent union of persons capable of knowing and loving each other and God. The celebration of marriage is also a liturgical act, appropriately held in a public liturgy at church. Catholics are urged to celebrate their marriage within the Eucharistic Liturgy.
PRAYER
O God, who in creating the human race
willed that man and wife should be one,
keep, we pray, in a bond of inseparable love
those who are united in the covenant of Marriage,
so that, as you make their love fruitful,
they may become, by your grace, witnesses to charity itself.
Through Christ our Lord
Amen.