You can find more about the vocation to marriage in the marriage and family section of the website.

Through marriage, a husband and wife give themselves to each other without reservation, promising to love each other freely, truly, faithfully and fruitfully for the rest of their lives, sharing their joys and sufferings in whatever circumstances life brings them.

They express their love through their sexual union, which brings them together in the closest intimacy and opens them to the gift of new life. They build not just a relationship but a home and a family and a place of welcome for others too.

You do not need to be a Christian, of course, to get married. But for Christians the natural union of marriage is transformed into a sacrament. For a Christian couple the call to love each other in this way becomes at the same time an invitation to follow Christ and to give their lives wholeheartedly to him in love and service. The love shown between a Christian husband and wife becomes a sign of the radical love shown by Christ in his life, death and resurrection. Christian marriage is not just an expression of human affection, it is a sacrament of the love of Christ, a way for husband and wife to minister to each other and to their children. And in this way the Christian family becomes a place where others can see the beauty and power of Christ’s redeeming love, a love that is often obscured in our fallen world. This is why marriage is a Christian vocation.