Love is never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude;
never selfish, nor quick to take offense.
Love keeps no score of wrongs; does not gloat
over other’s sins, but delights in the truth.
There is nothing that love cannot face; there is no
limit to its faith, its hopes, and its endurance.
Love will never come to an end. In a word,
there are three things that last forever: faith,
hope and love; but the greatest of them all is love.
—(1 Cor 13)

Where do we learn about love?
We learn about love from observing others and by being loved by others.

Everyone can learn about love from Jesus’ example. Everyone can be comforted by his love for each of us.

As Christians we believed that God so loved the world and each person in the world that the divine became flesh in Jesus Christ. Jesus taught us how to live a fully human life and how to love one another as God loves us.

A husband and wife can look to the love of Jesus as a model of love that is life-giving in the fullest possible way. Jesus lived his life in relationship with others, his parents and his friends.

“This is my commandment; love one another as I have loved you.”

These words could be the motto for every married couple.

Community of Lovers
Why does the Catholic Church require couples to participate in marriage preparation?

It is due to the belief that the Church it-self has an investment in your marriage. The Church is more than the Pope, bishops, priest, deacons, and religious. The Church is the body of Christ and you are an important part of that body.

The Church is a community of people who try to love in extraordinary ways. The Church is not perfect, nor is its love. We hear in the prayers at Mass that the Church is on a pilgrimage, which means we have not yet arrived at perfection. Part of being a Christian is accepting the invitation to greatness while at the same time knowing that we are not great. In the Christian life, our vision is tempered by reality, and this produces struggle. For married couples, part of this struggle is to be faithful to their marriage vows.

Sacraments
Sometimes the loving power of God meets the receptive openness of Christian believers with powerful results. This kind of love explains how couples can pledge to stay together for a lifetime “no matter what.” It explains how parents can care for their children with patience and understanding, without considering the cost. When this cooperative moment happens publicly, in formal ritual marked by words of faith and love, we say that God becomes “sacramentally” present.

The seven sacraments of the Church are associated with major moments or events in human life. At these times, Christians try to open themselves to God’s presence in a special way, so that the recipients of the sacraments—as well as the whole Church—are transformed by God’s loving power.

As a sacrament, Christian marriage has two special features that differentiate it from the other six.

The sacrament of marriage is actually conferred by each spouse on the other. The official witness—usually a priest or deacon—is a witness to the activity taking place between the two spouses.

Due to the ongoing nature of Christian marriage, the wife and husband remain’ givers of the sacrament’ throughout their lives. By carrying out their vows, they continue to administer the sacrament to each other.

Symbols
Human beings create symbols as a way to carve out meaning from the world of chaos. Symbols surround us in all aspects of our lives. Smile, Birthday cake, In the wedding ritual we see rings, flowers, and candles, but the true symbol of matrimony is the couple themselves, who become a living witness of live in the world.

In the Catholic Church, the sacraments are symbols of God’s interaction with the gathered community. The symbols indicate the coming together of something from God and something from humans. Learning about sacramental symbolism helps us grasp the deeper meaning of what is taking place in a marriage.

Sacramental Couples
The sacramental aspect of marriage comes when a couple recognizes God’s love for them in Jesus through the Holy Spirit. When this happens a husband and wife seek to freely manifest the same kind of love for each other, we say that they have achieved a “sacramental marriage.” Their love is faithful and exclusive, and they intend their love to be fruitful by remaining open to the creation of new life through their love.

The couple is graced or empowered by God to make such a magnificent statement of love. The sacrament of matrimony in turn, becomes symbols to the rest of the Church and to society that love of immense proportions is truly possible and that God can do great things through us, if we are sufficiently open to God’s power.

Sacrament to Each Other
A church wedding means more than having the ceremony in a traditional setting. It is intended to communicate something about the history of the couple and their belief that the deepest power in the world comes from God’s love. In other words, the exchange of marital promises or vows is not just for the benefit of the couple but is announced publicly before God and the community as a sacred statement of the couple’s intent to live their entire lives together in God’s presence.

The focus of the ceremony is on the couple and their free and public affirmation of their desire to be married to each other’ in good times and in bad time, in sickness and in health, until death do us part.” They are joined and bonded together for life, even though they are actually unsure about the future as they make their promises. As they stand before God and the congregation the only thing certain is that they will change. The question is how they will change and grow together in the coming years.

It is important for couples to “preview” their wedding liturgy so they can be familiar with its language and symbols. After all, couples have to make the ceremony their own. What matters is that the words said are lived for the next, fifty or so years.

Sacrament to the World
In a world that has grown quite complacent about marriage, Christians cannot accept the flippant view. (If it works out, fine, If it doesn’t, that’s OK, too.) Marriage is serious business. Granted, some marriages fail. Human frailty can frustrate the best of intentions. Nevertheless, the Christian perspective on marriage is that it is part of God’s wondrous plan.

Having a commitment to marriage in the Church is an attitude of willingness to invest our full strength in developing a love relationship that will last a lifetime. This love will spill over from the married couple to their children, to the rest of their family, to the whole world.

Marital Spirituality
What is spirituality? The Christian understanding of spirituality describes how your spirit and God’s spirit join in the everyday realities of your life. Spirituality focuses on how you use your time and energy. It is especially about how you love.

In times past, the topic of spirituality concerned only those aspects of life that were considered “religious.” Spirituality was limited to personal prayer and participation in the sacred worship of the local church. However, there has recently been an increased interest in spirituality in our daily lives.

Spirituality of marriage is different from the classic notion of monastic spirituality. While it does not reject the traditional practices of prayer, spirituality of marriage includes the daily events of married life. The spiritual acts of marriage can include anything from a couple’s sexual encounters to their doing the dishes together to one or both of them going out to make a living for their family. The manner in which a couple treats others and the commitments they make to those outside their marriage are also part of this growing spirituality.

Developing a loving marriage relationship requires discipline and sacrifice. It is important for each of you to communicate to the other your own personal spiritual journey. Your response to your partner’s revelations should be one of wonder and respect, never judgment, rebuke or hostility. Remaining committed to your spouse in the pursuit of living as God has asked you to, however, means your journey together will be a living sacrament, a manifestation of your marital spirituality.

Your marriage has the power not only to announce that you love each other but also that God can be “seen” in your love. If your marriage is truly “in Christ,” you will come to know experientially that “those who abide in love abide in God, and God in them.”