What is Marriage?

The liturgy of the Sacrament of Marriage in the Church is full of beautiful symbols and blessings. Discerning this sacrament as a divine calling for you is more crucial than one’s consideration of many well-known social benefits of marriage. The Church believes and teaches marriage as “a special sacrament” for “the duties of marriage in mutual and lasting fidelity” [1] and “mutual help and service” between a baptized man and a baptized woman in the unique, life-long partnership of total and mutual self-giving love. Marriage and married love are by their nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring, so that a man and a woman by their union in Christ are “no longer two, but one flesh” (Matt. 19ff).[2]

​[1] Liturgy of the Sacrament of Marriage.
[2] Gaudium et Spes, 48.​

If you are interested in preparing for the Sacrament of Marriage at St. Anthony of Padua Parish, please click on the button below or scan the QR code.