Since marriage is one of the most important institutions in human life, it is most natural that Our Lord should have established a special sacrament for married couples. Our Catholic faith teaches us that Christ did so, making the marriage contract of baptized persons the sacrament of Matrimony. Accordingly, whenever two baptized persons are married, they receive this sacrament at the very moment when they make the marriage contract, whether or not they realize that it is a sacrament.
The end to which marriage is primarily directed is that children be brought into the world and properly reared for happiness in this life and in the next. Hence, when a married couple make use of their right to sexual union but perform the act in such a way that the conception of children is positively frustrated, they are guilty of a grave sin. This sin, known as contraception or birth control, is very common nowadays. It was severely condemned by Pope Pius XI in his Encyclical on Christian Marriage. Other purposes of marriage are the love and assistance that husband and wife mutually give and the opportunity of satisfying reasonably and lawfully the inclination to sexual gratification, which is so strong an impulse in human nature.
Just when Our Lord made Christian marriage a sacrament is not clear from Sacred Scripture; but from a text of St. Paul we can infer that Christ did raise marriage to this dignity. Writing to the Ephesians, St. Paul says that the union between a Christian husband and wife is a sign or symbol of the union between Christ and the Church (Ephesians, 5, 2133). From this principle we argue that since the union between Christ and the Church is a supernatural union which produces grace, the union between husband and wife must also be a supernatural union giving grace to the couple - in other words, a sacrament. This doctrine is not indeed clearly stated by St. Paul, but our inference is fully confirmed by the tradition of the Church, which has always regarded marriage as one of the divine means of grace, especially blessed by Our Savior, intended to aid Christian husbands and wives to be faithful to God and to each other, and to perform exactly all the duties of their state of life.
Since Christian marriage is a sacrament, the Church possesses jurisdiction over the marriages of all baptized persons. The Church uses this authority especially by laying down marriage impediments - that is, by ruling that certain couples may not marry because of a prohibition arising either from the law of God or from the law of the Church. If a couple, bound by an impediment, attempted marriage without a dispensation from the Church, the marriage would be sinful though valid, supposing that the impediment was an impeding impediment, and both sinful and invalid, supposing that the impediment was a diriment impediment. The Church can give a dispensation from an impediment established by ecclesiastical law, but not from an impediment established by divine law.
The fact that a person has taken a private vow of chastity is an impeding impediment; the bond of an already existing marriage is a diriment impediment by divine law; the blood relationship between first or second cousins is a diriment impediment by ecclesiastical law.
Nowadays the state of marriage is degraded by many persons. They enter marriage hastily, with little thought of its sacred dignity, and with small regard for its obligations. After a few years they tire of each other, obtain a divorce and marry again. Sad to say, even some Catholics have not the proper concept of marriage, and though they may not go so far as to seek divorce, they try to rid themselves of the burdens of the married state, and selfishly refuse to live up to the obligations of this state, as God has established it. That is the reason for unhappiness in some Catholic homes.
It is the teaching of the Catholic Church that the marriage of two baptized persons, once they have used their right of sexual union, can never be dissolved except by the death of one of the parties. This rule holds for the marriage of baptized nonCatholics as well as for that of Catholics. In other types of marriage the bond can sometimes be broken with the consent or authority of the Church. There are three types of such marriages, which can be dissolved in exceptional circumstances: (1) If at the time of the marriage both of the parties were unbaptized, and later one receives Baptism and the other refuses to dwell peacefully and sinlessly with the convert. This is called the Pauline privilege. (2) If at the time of the marriage one was a baptized nonCatholic and the other an unbaptized person; (3) If at the time of the marriage both were baptized persons, but they never had sexual relations as husband and wife. Furthermore, sometimes the Church allows a husband and wife to separate or live apart, without having any right to remarry.
Before the marriage of a Catholic couple the law of the Church calls for the publication of the banns - announcements of the coming marriage - to be made in the parish of each of the parties on three Sundays or feast days. Then, if any one believes that they should not marry because of some impediment or other grave reason he should at once inform the authorities of the Church. Those intending to marry should make arrangements with one of the priests in the parish of the intended bride (where the ceremony should ordinarily take place) at least a month before the date of the marriage.
In a Catholic home where the husband and wife live according to the Christian ideals as proposed by the Catholic Church there is true contentment and happiness, even though material comforts and luxuries may be lacking. They bring up their children religiously, with the realization that God has sent them these little ones to be trained in His love and to become one day citizens of heaven. Such a Catholic home is truly an image of the home of Nazareth, in which dwelt the three holiest persons that ever lived on earth - the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary and Joseph.