United States Catholic Catechism for Adults

Chapter 21. The Sacrament of Marriage • 281

(1 Cor 7:10-11). In the Letter to the Ephesians, we read, “‘For this rea son a man shall leave [his] father and [his] mother / and be joined to his wife, / and the two shall become one flesh.’ / This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church” (Eph 5:31-32). Thus the love of husband and wife reflects the love between Christ and the Church. By Christ’s will, Marriage is one of the Seven Sacraments. COVENANT AND LITURGICAL ACT By their marriage, the couple witnesses Christ’s spousal love for the Church. One of the Nuptial Blessings in the liturgical celebration of mar riage 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.” Through the liturgical celebration of marriage, husband and wife enter into a covenant which is also a Sacrament: The matrimonial covenant by which a man and a woman estab lish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dig nity of a sacrament. (CCC, no. 1601, citing CIC, can. 1055, and Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches [CCEO], can. 776) 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.