St. John Vianney Catholic Church

Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults

A Journey of Faith

RCIA Week 25

The Sacrament of Matrimony

CCC 1660: “The marriage covenant, by which a man and a woman form with each other an intimate communion of life and love, has been founded and endowed with its own special laws by the Creator. By its very nature it is ordered to the good of the couple, as well as to the generation and education of children. Christ the Lord raised marriage between the baptized to the dignity of a sacrament.”

CCC 1661: “The sacrament of Matrimony signifies the union of Christ and the Church. It gives spouses the grace to love each other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church; the grace of the sacrament thus perfects the human love of the spouses, strengthens their indissoluble unity, and sanctifies them on the way to eternal life (cf. Council of Trent: DS 1799).

CCC 1664: “Unity, indissolubility, and openness to fertility are essential to marriage. Polygamy is incompatible with the unity of marriage; divorce separates what God has joined together; the refusal of fertility turns married life away from its "supreme gift," the child.”

CCC 1666: “The Christian home is the place where children receive the first proclamation of the faith. For this reason the family home is rightly called "the domestic church," a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity.”

MEDITATION: Why is it so important to defend the concept of marriage as only between a man and a woman?

“Very few people….invite Jesus Christ to their wedding; on the contrary, they seem to do all they can to keep Him away.”

-- St. John Vianney

NEXT WEEK - The Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist