Catholic marriage ceremony

The Church has many necessary procedures to prepare couples for family life. Catholic marriage has the following differences:

1. Marriage must come from love:

Catholics highly value love, especially marital love, so before presenting themselves to the priest, a man and a woman must go through a process of getting to know and love each other. Both of them voluntarily love each other without being bound or forced by any third person. Once they have decided to get married, they will decide to marry each other and present themselves to the priest where they live.

2. Study the doctrine:

Marriage catechism is the provision that the Church prepares young couples to enter family life with a certain knowledge of religion as well as life. Normally, the study time for both people is about 6 months for Christians, but if they are converts (those who return to the faith), the study time will be longer.

3. Marriage announcement:

After studying the marriage doctrine, if both parties decide to get married, they must inform the priest of the bride's family. He will make the marriage announcement and announce it on three Sundays in each party's parish.

The announcement of marriage in each parish is to let everyone in the community know, to pray and consider any obstacles to resolve in advance or report to the parish priest, and also to set the wedding ceremony.

4. Celebration of the sacrament of marriage:

This is the most important and sacred day for the couple, when they have completed the marriage catechism course and have decided to marry each other. The Mass is celebrated with special liturgical rites, dedicated readings, the wedding ceremony begins after the Gospel and the sermon, consisting of three parts:

Part One: Interrogation of the Newlyweds

The celebrant takes turns asking the bride and groom three questions about freedom, about loving and respecting each other for life, and about accepting children. These questions are intended to help the newlyweds officially confirm in front of everyone that they are truly conscious and mature when deciding to get married, meaning that they have the freedom to marry each other, accept the meaning and purpose of marriage as loving and being faithful to each other, and are ready to accept and educate children.

Part Two: Exchanging Vows

This is the essential part of the sacrament of Matrimony. The couple will exchange vows to accept each other as husband and wife and commit to be faithful to each other for life.

Part three: Blessing and exchanging wedding rings

Once both people have agreed and promised before God, the witness will officially declare the two to be husband and wife. The groom will give the ring and kiss the bride in front of everyone as a public announcement of their marriage to everyone.

The ring with a circular shape is considered by Christians as a symbol of longevity and eternity. Therefore, the ring is an indispensable item and is given by the groom to the bride as a promise that they will live together forever.

At some Christian weddings, you will see the bride and groom each holding a candle. Don’t be surprised because each candle represents their own life before marriage. They will use their own candle to light another candle and blow out their own candle together.

Next, the couple, the two witnesses, and the priest sign the Marriage Register. This register is kept in the parish archives. This signing can also be done after the Mass.

The Rite of Marriage ends. The Mass continues. After the Our Father, there is a special prayer for the newlyweds. The Church implores God to grant the newlyweds all grace and blessings so that they may be holy and happy, and their family may be harmonious and lasting. The Church also prays for the grace of the Holy Spirit for them because “the Holy Spirit is the seal of their marriage, the source of their love, the strength that helps them to be faithful./.