Report Outline

1.1 We Celebrate Life – relation to people’s experience

√ John and Abigail Adams
 Abigail Smith married the founding father John Adams.
 Had 5 children, one of them being America’s fifth president, John Quincy Adams.
 Abigail Adams - it was not just their revolutionary political ideals that kept them so
united. Mutual devotion and friendship they had which is reflected upon the more than
1000 letters they wrote to one another.

√ Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan

 Actor Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan met on set.
 Married at 1988 and had 4 children.
 Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease
 Launch the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research in 2000, helping raise
money for research funding and awareness of said disease.

√ Amal and George Clooney

 George Clooney was introduced to Amal Alamuddin by a friend.
 Just after six months of dating, George proposed to Amal.
 The couple is able to stay undivided by balancing each other’s career.
 Amal - human rights lawyer.
 George – actor
 As taking care of their two twins, Alexander and Ella.

1.2 We Celebrate God’s Word – anchor from the Bible

√ “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”
Ephesians 5:25
 With a particular emphasis on action the priority for a godly husband is to love his wife.
 Husbands are called to a level of dedication which includes love unto death.
 A husband must love his wife, dedicate his life to staying with his wife, and be willing to
die for his wife.

1.3 We Celebrate God’s Message – Content

• Promise made by a man and a woman before God and the church
• Accepted and confirmed by God.
• God forms the bond of sacramental marriage.
• It is binding until the death of one partners.
• It is a covenant of love between a man and a woman.
• Rings are used as a symbol of love and everlasting commitment.
• The Marriage Covenant seals the love of husband and wife and reflects God’s divine plan
of love.
• Foreshadowing of the covenant between Christ and the Church
• One of the 7 sacraments of the church

Marriage is triply indissoluble:

 1. Mutual self-giving without reservation
2. An image of God’s unconditional faithfulness to his creation
3. Christ’s devotion to his Church, even unto death on the cross.

• Threatens marriages - sin

• Renews them - forgiveness
• Makes them strong - prayer and trust in God’s presence.
• Not everyone is called to marriage. Even people who live alone can have fulfilment in life.

RITE OF THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY

• The Order of Celebrating Matrimony within Mass - when two Catholics marry
• The Order of Celebrating Matrimony without Mass -when a Catholic marries a Christian
who is not Catholic
• The Order of Celebrating Matrimony between a Catholic and a Catechumen or a Non-
Christian

ABOUT THE CEREMONY

• It honors and affirms marriage as a mature, freely chosen, life-long commitment of
mutual love and fidelity between one man and one woman.
• The bride and groom - the primary ministers of marriage.
• The priest or deacon - presides directs the flow of the liturgical celebration and official
witness to the marriage.

CELEBRATION OF MATRIMONY AND ITS FOUR MAIN ELEMENTS:

• The Statement of Intention
• The Consent
• The Reception of the Consent
• The Blessing and Giving of Rings

These actions are preceded by:

• An Entrance Rite
• A Liturgy of the Word
• Homily.
• Universal Prayer or intercessions.
• Includes a Special blessing given to the couple.
• Marriage takes place within the Mass -Nuptial Blessing is given after the Lord’s Prayer,
before communion.
• Marriage takes place outside Mass - blessing immediately follows the intercessions.

1.4 We Celebrate the Teachings of the Church; Documents of the Church

 The stable union of man and woman in marriage born of their love sign and presence of
God’s own love and of the acknowledgement and acceptance of the goodness of sexual
differentiation.
 Spouses can become one flash and are enabled to give birth to a new life, a manifestation
of the Creator’s goodness, wisdom and loving plan.
 A man and a woman can promise each other mutual love in a gesture which engages their
entire lives and mirrors many features of faith.
 Promising love for ever is possible when we perceive a plan which sustains us and enables
us to surrender our future entirely to the one we love.
 (cf. LF 52)

 Marriage is a real symbol of the event of salvation, but in its own way.
The content of participation in Christ’s life is also specific:
o Conjugal love or Married love involves a totality - all the elements of the person enter -
appeal of the body and instinct, power of feeling and affectivity, aspiration of the spirit
and of will.
Marriage aims:
 Personal unity
 Indissolubility and faithfulness and definitive mutual giving;
 Fertility.
(cf. FC 13)

1.5 We Celebrate Our Faith – testimony of resource persons

Elizabeth Reapor
We chose her to be our guest speaker because:
o She has enough knowledge and experience when it comes to marriage.
o She has been married for 22 years, so we thought that she would know all the secrets
and measures in keeping one's marriage strong and standing
o She can be an inspiration to us students and to all the people who are in a committed
relationship.
o We also think that we could learn important life lessons from her experiences.
o We hope that you will use this to follow God through the importance of relationships
with God and others.
 Content
1.1 We Celebrate Life – relation to people’s experience
John and Abigail Adams
 Abigail Smith married the founding father John Adams, and through that had five children,
one of them being America’s fifth president, John Quincy Adams. Abigail stated that it was
not just their revolutionary political ideals that kept them so united, but the mutual devotion
and friendship they had which is reflected upon the more than 1000 letters they wrote to one
another.

Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan

 Actor Michael J. Fox and Tracy Pollan, just like many other celebrities, met on set. The two
then got married at 1988 and had 4 children. In 1991, Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson’s
disease, and in 1998, went public with the news. With the two lovers working side by side,
they were able to launch the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research in 2000,
helping raise money for research funding and awareness of said disease.

Amal and George Clooney

 The self-proclaimed bachelor of countless decades, George Clooney was introduced to Amal
Alamuddin by a friend. Just after six months of dating, George proposed to Amal. The couple
is able to stay undivided by balancing each other’s career. Amal as a human rights lawyer,
and George as an actor, as well as taking care of their two twins, Alexander and Ella.

1.2 We Celebrate God’s Word – anchor from the Bible

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”
Ephesians 5:25
 The first and foremost priority for a godly husband is to love his wife—with a particular
emphasis on action. Husbands are called to a level of dedication which includes love unto
death. Though given authority as the leader of the family, the corresponding responsibility is
often overlooked. A husband must love his wife, dedicate his life to staying with his wife, and
be willing to die for his wife.

1.3 We Celebrate God’s Message – Content

 The Sacrament of Matrimony comes about through a promise made by a man and a woman
before God and the church, which is accepted and confirmed by God and consummated by
the bodily union of the couple. Because God himself forms the bond of sacramental marriage,
it is binding until the death of one of the partners.
 Marriage, a union of a man and a woman in the sacrament of Matrimony is more than a
contract signed on a piece of paper. Rather, it is a covenant of love between a man and a
woman. The Marriage covenant is rooted in God’s plan at the very moment of creation. By
creating man and woman He called them to an intimate communion of life and love in
marriage. , “so that they are no longer two, but one flesh” (Mt 19:6)
 Rings are used as a symbol of love and everlasting commitment.
 The marriage covenant in the Sacrament of Matrimony seals the love of husband and wife
and reflects God’s divine plan of love. It is a foreshadowing of the covenant between Christ
and the Church (cf. CFC 1892, 1895)
 The Sacrament of Matrimony is one of the seven sacraments of the church. Through the
sacrament of marriage, the love of man and woman is made holy and becomes a reflection
of God’s love. (cf. CFC 1897)
 Authentic married love should be marked by total permanent fidelity “till death do us part,”
and is ordained for the procreation and education of children (cf. CFC 2007-2008)
 Marriage is triply indissoluble: first, because the essence of love is mutual self-giving without
reservation; second, because it is an image of God’s unconditional faithfulness to his creation;
and third, because it represents Christ’s devotion to his Church, even unto death on the cross.
 What really threatens marriages is sin; what renews them is forgiveness; what makes them
strong is prayer and trust in God’s presence.
 Not everyone is called to marriage. Even people who live alone can have fulfilment in life. To
many of them Jesus shows a special way; he invites them to remain unmarried “for the sake
of the kingdom of heaven”

RITE OF THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY

 The Order of Celebrating Matrimony within Mass (when two Catholics marry)
 The Order of Celebrating Matrimony without Mass (when a Catholic marries a Christian who
is not Catholic)
 The Order of Celebrating Matrimony between a Catholic and a Catechumen or a Non-
Christian

About the Ceremony

 It honors and affirms marriage as a mature, freely chosen, life-long commitment of mutual
love and fidelity between one man and one woman. In the eyes of the Catholic Church the
bride and groom are the primary ministers of marriage. In other words, they confer the
sacrament on one another. The priest or deacon who presides directs the flow of the liturgical
celebration and serves as the Church’s official witness to the marriage.
 As the pivotal part of the ceremony begins, which includes the exchange of vows, it is fitting
that the couple be front and center, facing the assembly so that all present are able to see
and hear the marriage take place. This part of the longer ceremony is known as the
Celebration of Matrimony and has four main elements:
o The Questions before the Consent when bride and groom are asked about the
freedom to marry, fidelity to each other, and the acceptance and upbringing of
children
o The Consent, which is the declaration and reception of marriage vows
o The Reception of the Consent when the priest or deacon accepts the couples vows
o The Blessing and Giving of Rings
 These actions are preceded by an entrance rite, a Liturgy of the Word with Bible readings
proclaimed, and a homily. They are followed by the Universal Prayer or intercessions offered
for the couple and the larger needs of the Church and world. The ceremony also includes a
special blessing given to the couple. If the marriage takes place within the Mass, this Nuptial
Blessing is given just after the Lord’s Prayer, before communion. If the marriage takes place
outside Mass, then the blessing immediately follows the intercessions.

Understanding the Order of Celebrating Matrimony

 The Statement of Intentions
 Declaration of Consent (Exchange of Marriage Vows)
 Blessing and Exchange of Ring
 Nuptial Blessing

Text Rite of Marriage

√ Introduction
 The Priest addresses the bride and groom: My dear friends, you have come together in
this Church so that the Lord may seal and strengthen your love in the presence of the
Church’s minister and this community. Christ abundantly blesses this love. He already
consecrated you in baptism and now He enriches and strengthens you by a special
sacrament so that you may assume the duties of marriage in mutual and lasting fidelity.
And so, in the presence of the Church, I ask you to state your intentions.

√ Statement of Intentions
PRIEST QUESTIONS THE COUPLE: __________ and __________, have you come here
freely and without reservation to give yourselves to each other in marriage? Will you love
and honor each other as man and wife for the rest of your lives? Will you accept children
lovingly from God, and bring them up according to the law of Christ His Christ? (The couple
answer the questions separately).

√ Consent
The Priest invites the couple to declare their consent.
PRIEST: Since it is your intention to enter into marriage, join your right hands, and declare
your consent before God and His Church. (They join hands).
GROOM: I, (Name), take you, (Name), to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good
times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of
my life.
BRIDE: I, (Name), take you, (Name), to be my husband. I promise to be true to you in good
times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of
my life.

√ Reception of Consent
The priest receives their consent for the whole Church: You have declared your consent
before the church. May the Lord in His goodness strengthen your consent and fill you
both with His blessings. What God has joined, men must not divide.
PEOPLE: Amen.

EXCHANGE OF RINGS
PRIEST: May the Lord bless these rings which you give to each other as the sign of your
love and fidelity.
ALL: Amen
GROOM: (Name), take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity, in the name of the Father,
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit
BRIDE: (Name), take this ring as a sign of my love and fidelity, in the name of the Father,
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

The Liturgy of the Eucharist follows the rite of marriage. After the Our Father, the bride
and the groom are given the nuptial blessing. As newlyweds, they receive communion
and are sent forth with God’s blessing.

1.4 We Celebrate the Teachings of the Church; Documents of the Church

 The stable union of man and woman in marriage is born of their love, as a sign and presence
of God’s own love and of the acknowledgement and acceptance of the goodness of sexual
differentiation, whereby spouses can become one flash and are enabled to give birth to a
new life, a manifestation of the Creator’s goodness, wisdom and loving plan. Grounded in this
love, a man and a woman can promise each other mutual love in a gesture which engages
their entire lives and mirrors many features of faith. Promising love for ever is possible when
we perceive a plan bigger than our own ideas and undertakings, a plan which sustains us and
enables us to surrender our future entirely to the one we love. (cf. LF 52)
 Marriage is a real symbol of the event of salvation, but in its own way. The Spouses participate
in it, together, as a couple that the first and immediate effect of marriage is not supernatural
grade itself, but the Christian conjugal bond, a typically Christian communion of two persons.
The content of participation in Christ’s life is also specific: Conjugal love Or Married Love
involves a totality, in which all the elements of the person enter- appeal of the body and
instinct, power of feeling and affectivity, aspiration of the spirit and of will. It aims at a deeply
personal unity, the unity that, beyond union in one flesh, leads to forming one heart and soul;
it demands indissolubility and faithfulness and definitive mutual giving; and it is open to
fertility. (cf. FC 13)

1.5 We Celebrate Our Faith – testimony of resource persons

√ Mrs. Elizabeth Reapor
 We chose her to be our guest speaker because she has enough knowledge and experience
when it comes to marriage. She has been married for 22 years, so we think that she would
know all the secrets and measures in keeping one's marriage strong and standing.

 We chose Mrs. Elizabeth Reapor because she can be an inspiration to us students and to all
the people who are in a committed relationship. We also think that we could learn important
life lessons from her experiences. We hope that you will use this to follow God through the
importance of relationships with God and others.