"God said, 'It is not good that man should be alone. I will make him a helpmate.So God made the man fall into a deep sleep. And while he slept, he took one of his ribs and enclosed it in flesh. God built the rib he had taken from the man into a woman, and brought her to the man. This why a man leaves his father and mother and joins himself to his wife, and they become one body'." Genesis 2: 18, 21-22,24

The sacrament of Matrimony is the last but by no means least of the seven sacraments of the Catholic Church. Like the sacrament of holy orders it is the second of the sacraments at the service of the people since it is ordered to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of children.

As the quotation from the Book of Genesis says, from the very beginning of the world man and woman were created for each other so that in mutual and lasting fidelity they are not only personally enriched by their relationship but also continue God's act of creation by bringing new life into the world and forming them in an appropriate way that will direct them to be God fearing people and good future citizens. Marriage then, is no human institution but comes from the will of God for his creatures and is directed towards the service of mankind.

Throughout the pages of the Old Testament there are many texts which deal with the notion of covenant. We see God repeatedly making covenants or agreements with his chosen people. He promises to be their God and they to be his people. He wishes to establish a partnership to which he will be faithful with the expectation that his people will be faithful too. This is also the case in marriage, for it is here where two people enter into a covenant with each other which joins them together in a partnership of life and love. The nature of the human person, however, is fragile and just as God's chosen people often failed to respond to their covenant with God, so problems arise between married couples as they fail each other in many ways. God gives them, therefore, the sacrament of matrimony in order to strengthen them as a couple. As the Second Vatican Council's 'Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the modern world' says: "Just as of old God encountered his people with a covenant of love and fidelity, so our Saviour, the spouse of the Church, now encounters Christian spouses through the sacrament of marriage. He abides with them in order that by their mutual self-giving, spouses will love each other with enduring fidelity, as he loved the Church and delivered himself for it." (Art. 48).

Married couples, therefore, are consecrated by this special sacrament and they fulfil their conjugal and family role by virtue of the sacrament. Thus filled with the spirit of Christ they increasingly respond to the universal call to holiness, giving glory and praise to God through their married relationship.

For further reading see: The Catechism of the Catholic Church. Articles 1601 - 1666.

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