The affirmation of marriage and the family has long been a concern of the Church. It this day and time, there is much confusion as to what constitutes a marriage. Marriage is a divine institution. The Second Vatican Council stated “the intimate partnership of life and the love which constitutes the married state has been established by the Creator and endowed by him with its own proper laws…For God himself is the author of marriage.”[1]
The Code of Canon Law further defines this:
The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life and which is ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring, has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament between the baptized.[2]
In this one sentence, the Church set up the charter for marriage. It is chock full of insights into what constitutes marriage. Let’s look deeper into this important text.
