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SACRAMENTS OF VOCATION
 While
all Christians are initiated into the Church through the same essential process,
not all Christians are called to live the same manner of commitment. Some are
called to live in intimate union with another through the sacrament of marriage;
some are called to live single lives; some are called to live a life of service
that is directed at the ministry and mission of the Church. Both the commitment
to marriage, (a commitment to human life) and the commitment to the mission
of the Church, (a commitment to the life of the Church), are seen as fundamental
calls to service and love.
MATRIMONY
“The Lord God said: ‘It is not good for the man to be alone’….That
is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two
of them become one body…”(Gen.
2:18,24)
For many years, cultural factors held sway over the concept of marriage and
not until Second Vatican Council did the sacrament of Matrimony come into its
fullness. With the Council’s revision, Matrimony came into its own by
being defined as a “covenant” rather than contract, “sealed
by an irrevocable personal consent.” (Pastoral Constitution on the Church
in the Modern World.)
In addition to the concept of “covenant” the Council established
that “the true practice of conjugal love, and the whole tenor of family
life resulting from it, tends to dispose the spouses to cooperate generously
with the love of the Creator and Savior who through them day by day expands
and enriches His family.” (n.50, Pastoral Constitution)
The Council established that “authentic married love is taken up into
the divine love and is ruled and enriched by the redemptive power of Christ
and the salvific action of the Church. . .”(n.48, Pastoral Constitution)
This new emphasis brought love to the forefront by insisting that people marry
and remain married because they love one another. In this married love, the
couple identifies with the whole Church, as faithful, generous and gracious.
Mutual love “involves the good of the whole person…and can enrich
the expressions of the body and mind with a unique dignity, ennobling these
expressions as special ingredients and signs of friendship distinctive of marriage….Such
love pervades the whole of the (spouses) lives. (n.49, Pastoral Constitution;
Humanae Vitae, Paul VI; nn, 8-9).
 The
new Rite of Marriage speaks of the union of Christ and the Church, of the marriage
bond, of the essential element of mutual affection in body and mind, of the
importance of procreation and education of children, of the virtue of faith,
and of the significance of the Eucharistic setting for marriage. (Rite of Marriage)
- The sacrament of marriage at St. Anne Church is reserved for those Catholics
who are registered, attending, supporting members of St. Anne Parish and live
in the parish boundaries. Those who do not live in the boundaries must have
been registered, attending, and supporting the parish for at least one year.
- For a brief list of frequently asked questions about Marriage Preparation at St. Anne, click here. Or, call the Church office for further information.
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