Matrimony

  "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh...Each one of you should love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife should respect her husband." Eph 5:31; 33

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.  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 their way to eternal life.