April 27, 2024 - The Holy Matrimony of Jason and Cecily presided by Fr. Evan Simington
Married Christians, in virtue of the sacrament of Holy
Matrimony, signify and share in the mystery of that unity and fruitful love which exists between Christ and his Church (Eph 5:32); they help each other to attain to holiness in their married life and in the rearing and education of their children; and they have their own special gift among the people of God (2 Cor 7:7, LG 11).
"The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman
establish 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 dignity of a sacrament. (Can. 1055 §1, Cf. CCC 1601, GS 48)
“In the Latin Rite the celebration of marriage between two
Catholic faithful normally takes place during Holy Mass, because of the connection of all the sacraments with the Paschal mystery of Christ. In the Eucharist, the memorial of the New Covenant is realized, the New Covenant in which Christ has united himself for ever to the Church, his beloved bride for whom he gave himself up. It is therefore fitting that the spouses should seal their consent to give themselves to each other through the offering of their own lives by uniting it to the offering of Christ for his Church made present in the Eucharistic sacrifice, and by receiving the Eucharist so that, communicating in the same Body and the same Blood of Christ, they may form but ‘one body’ in Christ.” (CCC 1621, Cf. 1 Cor 10:17)
“According to the Latin tradition, the spouses as ministers
of Christ’s grace mutually confer upon each other the sacrament of Matrimony by expressing their consent before the Church.” (CCC 1623) The priest or deacon
who presides over the rite of Marriage witnesses the couple’s exchange of consent and receives that consent in the name of the Church.
