The married couple forms "the intimate partnership of life and Love established by the Creator and governed by his laws; it is rooted in the conjugal Covenant, that is, in their irrevocable personal consent." 146 Both give Themselves definitively and totally to one another. They are no longer two; from now on they form one flesh. the covenant they freely contracted imposes on the Spouses the obligation to preserve it as unique and indissoluble. 147 "What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder." 148

The Spouses' Union achieves the twofold end of Marriage: the good of the spouses Themselves and the transmission of life. These two meanings or values of marriage cannot be separated without altering the couple's spiritual life and compromising the goods of marriage and the future of the family. The conjugal Love of man and woman thus stands under the twofold obligation of Fidelity and fecundity.

"The acts in Marriage by which the intimate and chaste Union of the Spouses takes place are noble and honorable; the truly human performance of these acts fosters the self-giving they signify and enriches the spouses in joy and gratitude." 144 Sexuality is a source of joy and pleasure:

"Sexuality, by means of which man and woman give Themselves to one another through the acts which are proper and exclusive to Spouses, is not something simply biological, but concerns the innermost being of the human person as such. It is realized in a truly human way only if it is an integral part of the Love by which a man and woman commit themselves totally to one another until death." 142

Sexuality is ordered to the conjugal Love of man and woman. In Marriage the physical intimacy of the Spouses becomes a sign and pledge of spiritual commUnion. Marriage bonds between baptized persons are sanctified by the Sacrament.

Pornography consists in removing real or simulated sexual acts from the intimacy of the partners, in order to display them deliberately to third parties. It offends against chastity because it perverts the conjugal act, the intimate giving of Spouses to each other. It does grave injury to the Dignity of its participants (actors, vendors, the public), since each one becomes an object of base pleasure and illicit profit for others. It immerses all who are involved in the illusion of a fantasy world. It is a grave offense. Civil authorities should prevent the production and distribution of pornographic materials.

Fornication is carnal Union between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman. It is gravely contrary to the Dignity of persons and of human sexuality which is naturally ordered to the good of Spouses and the generation and Education of children. Moreover, it is a grave scandal when there is corruption of the young.

The relationships within the family bring an affinity of feelings, affections and interests, arising above all from the members' respect for one another. the family is a privileged Community called to achieve a "sharing of thought and common deliberation by the Spouses as well as their eager cooperation as parents in the children's upbringing." 11

The conjugal Community is established upon the consent of the Spouses. Marriage and the family are ordered to the good of the spouses and to the procreation and Education of children. the Love of the spouses and the begetting of children create among members of the same family personal relationships and primordial responsibilities.

Fecundity is a gift, an end of Marriage, for conjugal Love naturally tends to be fruitful. A child does not come from outside as something added on to the mutual love of the Spouses, but springs from the very heart of that mutual giving, as its fruit and fulfillment. So the Church, which "is on the side of life" 150 teaches that "each and every marriage act must remain open 'per se' to the transmission of life." 151 "This particular doctrine, expounded on numerous occasions by the Magisterium, is based on the inseparable connection, established by God, which man on his own initiative may not break, between the unitive significance and the procreative significance which are both inherent to the marriage act." 152

Called to give life, Spouses share in the creative power and fatherhood of God. 153 "Married couples should regard it as their proper mission to transmit human life and to educate their children; they should realize that they are thereby cooperating with the Love of God the Creator and are, in a certain sense, its interpreters. They will fulfill this duty with a sense of human and Christian responsibility." 154

A particular aspect of this responsibility concerns the regulation of procreation. For just reasons, Spouses may wish to space the births of their children. It is their duty to make certain that their desire is not motivated by selfishness but is in conformity with the generosity appropriate to responsible parenthood. Moreover, they should conform their behavior to the objective criteria of morality:

It can happen that one of the Spouses is the innocent victim of a divorce decreed by civil law; this spouse therefore has not contravened the moral law. There is a considerable difference between a spouse who has sincerely tried to be faithful to the Sacrament of Marriage and is unjustly abandoned, and one who through his own grave fault destroys a canonically valid marriage. 178

Divorce is a grave offense against the natural law. It claims to break the contract, to which the Spouses freely consented, to live with each other till death. Divorce does injury to the Covenant of salvation, of which Sacramental Marriage is the sign. Contracting a new Union, even if it is recognized by civil law, adds to the gravity of the rupture: the remarried spouse is then in a situation of public and permanent adultery:

The separation of Spouses while maintaining the Marriage bond can be legitimate in certain cases provided for by canon law. 176 If civil divorce remains the only possible way of ensuring certain legal rights, the care of the children, or the protection of inheritance, it can be tolerated and does not constitute a moral offense.

The Gospel shows that physical sterility is not an absolute evil. Spouses who still suffer from infertility after exhausting legitimate medical procedures should unite Themselves with the Lord's Cross, the source of all spiritual fecundity. They can give expression to their generosity by adopting abandoned children or performing demanding services for others.

Techniques involving only the married couple (homologous artificial insemination and fertilization) are perhaps less reprehensible, yet remain morally unacceptable. They dissociate the sexual act from the procreative act. the act which brings the child into existence is no longer an act by which two persons give Themselves to one another, but one that "entrusts the life and identity of the embryo into the power of doctors and biologists and establishes the domination of technology over the origin and destiny of the human person. Such a relationship of domination is in itself contrary to the Dignity and equality that must be common to parents and children." 167 "Under the moral aspect procreation is deprived of its proper perfection when it is not willed as the fruit of the conjugal act, that is to say, of the specific act of the Spouses' Union .... Only respect for the link between the meanings of the conjugal act and respect for the unity of the human being make possible procreation in conformity with the dignity of the person." 168

Techniques that entail the dissociation of husband and wife, by the intrusion of a person other than the couple (donation of sperm or ovum, surrogate uterus), are gravely immoral. These techniques (heterologous artificial insemination and fertilization) infringe the child's right to be born of a father and mother known to him and bound to each other by Marriage. They betray the Spouses' "right to become a father and a mother only through each other." 166

The state has a responsibility for its citizens' well-being. In this capacity it is legitimate for it to intervene to orient the demography of the population. This can be done by means of objective and respectful information, but certainly not by authoritarian, coercive measures. the state may not legitimately usurp the initiative of Spouses, who have the primary responsibility for the procreation and Education of their children. 161 It is not authorized to intervene in this area with means contrary to the moral law.

Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality. 157 These methods respect the bodies of the Spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favor the Education of an authentic freedom. In contrast, "every action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible" is intrinsically evil: 158

Spouses to whom God has not granted children can nevertheless have a conjugal life full of meaning, in both human and Christian terms. Their Marriage can radiate a fruitfulness of charity, of hospitality, and of sacrifice.

Yet there are some situations in which living together becomes practically impossible for a variety of reasons. In such cases the Church permits the physical separation of the couple and their living apart. the Spouses do not cease to be husband and wife before God and so are not free to contract a new Union. In this difficult situation, the best solution would be, if possible, reconciliation. the Christian Community is called to help these persons live out their situation in a Christian manner and in Fidelity to their Marriage bond which remains indissoluble. 157

The consent consists in a "human act by which the partners mutually give Themselves to each other": "I take you to be my wife" - "I take you to be my husband." 126 This consent that binds the Spouses to each other finds its fulfillment in the two "becoming one flesh." 127

The Church holds the exchange of consent between the Spouses to be the indispensable element that "makes the Marriage." 125 If consent is lacking there is no marriage.

The various liturgies abound in prayers of blessing and epiclesis asking God's Grace and blessing on the new couple, especially the bride. In the epiclesis of this Sacrament the Spouses receive the Holy Spirit as the commUnion of Love of Christ and the Church. 124 The Holy Spirit is the seal of their Covenant, the ever available source of their love and the strength to renew their Fidelity.

In the Latin Church, it is ordinarily understood that the Spouses, as ministers of Christ's Grace, mutually confer upon each other the Sacrament of Matrimony by expressing their consent before the Church. In the Eastern liturgies the minister of this sacrament (which is called "Crowning") is the priest or bishop who, after receiving the mutual consent of the spouses, successively crowns the bridegroom and the bride as a sign of the Marriage Covenant.

In the Latin Rite the celebration of Marriage between two Catholic faithful normally takes place during Holy Mass, because of the connection of all the Sacraments with the Paschal mystery of Christ. 120 In the Eucharist the memorial of the New Covenant is realized, the New Covenant in which Christ has united himself for ever to the Church, his beLoved bride for whom he gave himself up. 121 It is therefore fitting that the Spouses should seal their consent to give Themselves to each other through the offering of their own lives by uniting it to the offering of Christ for his Church made present in the Eucharistic sacrifice, and by receiving the Eucharist so that, communicating in the same Body and the same Blood of Christ, they may form but "one body" in Christ. 122

This unequivocal insistence on the indissolubility of the Marriage bond may have left some perplexed and could seem to be a demand impossible to realize. However, Jesus has not placed on Spouses a burden impossible to bear, or too heavy - heavier than the Law of Moses. 108 By coming to restore the original order of creation disturbed by sin, he himself gives the strength and Grace to live marriage in the new dimension of the Reign of God. It is by following Christ, renouncing Themselves, and taking up their crosses that spouses will be able to "receive" the original meaning of marriage and live it with the help of Christ. 109 This grace of Christian marriage is a fruit of Christ's cross, the source of all Christian life.

Seeing God's Covenant with Israel in the image of exclusive and faithful married Love, the prophets prepared the Chosen People's conscience for a deepened understanding of the unity and indissolubility of Marriage. 102 The books of Ruth and Tobit bear moving witness to an elevated sense of marriage and to the Fidelity and tenderness of Spouses. Tradition has always seen in the Song of Solomon a unique expression of human love, a pure reflection of God's love - a love "strong as death" that "many waters cannot quench." 103

"The matrimonial Covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between Themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the Spouses and the procreation and Education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the Dignity of a Sacrament." 84

The word order in Roman antiquity designated an established civil body, especially a governing body. Ordinatio means incorporation into an ordo. In the Church there are established bodies which Tradition, not without a basis in Sacred Scripture, 4 has since ancient times called taxeis (Greek) or ordines. and so the liturgy speaks of the ordo episcoporum, the ordo presbyterorum, the ordo diaconorum. Other groups also receive this name of ordo: catechumens, virgins, Spouses, widows,....

Through these Sacraments those already consecrated by Baptism and Confirmation 1 for the common priesthood of all the faithful can receive particular consecrations. Those who receive the sacrament of Holy Orders are consecrated in Christ's name "to feed the Church by the word and Grace of God." 2 On their part, "Christian Spouses are fortified and, as it were, consecrated for the duties and Dignity of their state by a special sacrament." 3

The priest (or deacon) who assists at the celebration of a Marriage receives the consent of the Spouses in the name of the Church and gives the blessing of the Church. the presence of the Church's minister (and also of the witnesses) visibly expresses the fact that marriage is an ecclesial reality.

This is the reason why the Church normally requires that the faithful contract Marriage according to the ecclesiastical form. Several reasons converge to explain this requirement: 132 - Sacramental marriage is a liturgical act. It is therefore appropriate that it should be celebrated in the public liturgy of the Church; - Marriage introduces one into an ecclesial order, and creates rights and duties in the Church between the Spouses and towards their children; - Since marriage is a state of life in the Church, certainty about it is necessary (hence the obligation to have witnesses); - the public character of the consent protects the "I do" once given and helps the spouses remain faithful to it.

So that the "I do" of the Spouses may be a free and responsible act and so that the Marriage Covenant may have solid and lasting human and Christian foundations, preparation for marriage is of prime importance.

It can seem difficult, even impossible, to bind oneself for life to another human being. This makes it all the more important to proclaim the Good News that God Loves us with a definitive and irrevocable love, that married couples share in this love, that it supports and sustains them, and that by their own faithfulness they can be witnesses to God's faithful love. Spouses who with God's Grace give this witness, often in very difficult conditions, deserve the gratitude and support of the ecclesial Community. 156

The deepest reason is found in the Fidelity of God to his Covenant, in that of Christ to his Church. Through the Sacrament of Matrimony the Spouses are enabled to represent this fidelity and witness to it. Through the sacrament, the indissolubility of Marriage receives a new and deeper meaning.

By its very nature conjugal Love requires the inviolable Fidelity of the Spouses. This is the consequence of the gift of Themselves which they make to each other. Love seeks to be definitive; it cannot be an arrangement "until further notice." the "intimate Union of Marriage, as a mutual giving of two persons, and the good of the children, demand total fidelity from the spouses and require an unbreakable union between them." 155

The Love of the Spouses requires, of its very nature, the unity and indissolubility of the spouses' Community of persons, which embraces their entire life: "so they are no longer two, but one flesh." 151 They "are called to grow continually in their commUnion through day-to-day Fidelity to their Marriage promise of total mutual self-giving." 152 This human communion is confirmed, purified, and completed by communion in Jesus Christ, given through the Sacrament of Matrimony. It is deepened by lives of the common faith and by the Eucharist received together.

Christ is the source of this Grace. "Just as of old God encountered his people with a Covenant of Love and Fidelity, so our Savior, the spouse of the Church, now encounters Christian Spouses through the Sacrament of Matrimony." 147 Christ dwells with them, gives them the strength to take up their crosses and so follow him, to rise again after they have fallen, to forgive one another, to bear one another's burdens, to "be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ," 148 and to love one another with supernatural, tender, and fruitful love. In the joys of their love and family life he gives them here on earth a foretaste of the wedding feast of the Lamb:

"By reason of their state in life and of their order, [Christian Spouses] have their own special gifts in the People of God." 145 This Grace proper to the Sacrament of Matrimony is intended to perfect the couple's Love and to strengthen their indissoluble unity. By this grace they "help one another to attain holiness in their married life and in welcoming and educating their children." 146

Thus the Marriage bond has been established by God himself in such a way that a marriage concluded and consummated between baptized persons can never be dissolved. This bond, which results from the free human act of the Spouses and their consummation of the marriage, is a reality, henceforth irrevocable, and gives rise to a Covenant guaranteed by God's Fidelity. the Church does not have the power to contravene this disposition of divine wisdom. 144

The consent by which the Spouses mutually give and receive one another is sealed by God himself. 141 From their Covenant arises "an institution, confirmed by the divine law, . . . even in the eyes of society." 142 The covenant between the spouses is integrated into God's covenant with man: "Authentic married Love is caught up into divine love." 143

"From a valid Marriage arises a bond between the Spouses which by its very nature is perpetual and exclusive; furthermore, in a Christian marriage the spouses are strengthened and, as it were, consecrated for the duties and the Dignity of their state by a special Sacrament." 140

Difference of confession between the Spouses does not constitute an insurmountable obstacle for Marriage, when they succeed in placing in common what they have received from their respective communities, and learn from each other the way in which each lives in Fidelity to Christ. But the difficulties of mixed marriages must not be underestimated. They arise from the fact that the separation of Christians has not yet been overcome. the spouses risk experiencing the tragedy of Christian disunity even in the heart of their own home. Disparity of cult can further aggravate these difficulties. Differences about faith and the very notion of marriage, but also different religious mentalities, can become sources of tension in marriage, especially as regards the Education of children. the temptation to religious indifference can then arise.

Man and woman were made "for each other" - not that God left them half-made and incomplete: he created them to be a commUnion of persons, in which each can be "helpmate" to the other, for they are equal as persons ("bone of my bones. . .") and complementary as masculine and feminine. In Marriage God unites them in such a way that, by forming "one flesh", 245 they can transmit human life: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth." 246 By transmitting human life to their descendants, man and woman as Spouses and parents co-operate in a unique way in the Creator's work. 247