"That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united with his wife, and they become one." (Genesis 2:24)

 

We are made for love and to love. 

 

In Christianity as a whole, marriage should be a visible reflection of God's divine love. It reminds us of God's covenant between Himself and the creation. Christians understand that marriage was created in the book of Genesis when God forms Adam. God doesn't want Adam to live alone, so He creates Eve to be Adam's partner. By God giving Eve to Adam, we see that God wants a covenant established between the man and woman, and Himself. In marriage, the husband and wife give themselves entirely to each other, bringing new life into the family of God.

 

Marriage's central importance is exchanging wedding vows and becoming one in the flesh, rather than the big white wedding and the exchanging of rings. Marriage should be taken very seriously and should be in good timing. In any marriage, vows are said between the couple. Christian or not, these vows are still oaths to commit themselves to the promises that are read aloud to each and to everyone who is attending the ceremony. It is commonly known, even in a secular light, that marriage is intended to last for as long as you and your partner lives. A customary line to have in your wedding vows is a line that says/or is similar to "I will love and honour you all the days of my life." When you say those words in a wedding vow, you are committing yourself to do the best of your ability to uphold and to live that out. 

 

In the Catholic Church, the covenant of marriage requires that you and your spouse are married for life, faithful to God and one another and open to having children. Marriage is a lifelong commitment. The vows taken at a Catholic wedding ceremony should be seen as unbreakable vows. These vows are to be proclaimed publically to the Church and God. 

 

The Catholic Church views marriage as a vocation, a calling from God. The church requires the man and woman to enter freely into marriage without any kind of force. The man and woman can not be currently married to someone else, have entered into religious life, or be already related to the person. They must choose each other on their own accord. 

 

In the eyes of God, covenants last forever, and since marriage is a covenant, the same rules apply. This is the reason why if you divorce in the Catholic Church, you cannot remarry. (Luke 16:18). 

 

This is not a man made tradition, but rather from God himself. In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul explains “For married people I have a command which is not my own but the Lord's: a wife must not leave her husband; but if she does, she must remain single or else be reconciled to her husband; and a husband must not divorce his wife.” (1 Corinthians 7:10-11)

 

“It is certainly not fecundity only, the fruit of which is offspring, nor chastity only, whose bond is fidelity, but also a certain sacramental bond in marriage that is recommended to believers in wedlock. Accordingly it is enjoyed by the apostle: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church” [Eph 5:25]. Of this bond the substance is this, that the man and the women who are joined together in matrimony should remain inseparable as long as they live; and that is should be unlawful for one consort to be parted from the other, expect for the cause of fortification [Mt 5:32]. For this is preserved in the case of Christ and the Church; so that, as a living one with a living one, there is no divorce, no separation for ever.” St Augustine of Hippo  [Marriage and Concupiscence 1:10:11 (c. A.D. 419)]

 

God gives us the graces we need when we receive the Sacrament of matrimony to live out the marriage faithfully. With all this being said, the Catholic Church does not condemn anyone who has had a fall in their marriage. The Catholic Church will always support all people who have lost families in one way or another. The Church acknowledges that marriages do fall apart, and spouses may have to separate because of different reasons. In serious circumstances, These couples can apply for an annulment of marriage, which says in the Church that there were one or more of the marriage requirements that was not met to be a valid marriage.