The collection of Catholic marriage quotes from a variety of Church documents can be read, shared, and reflected upon by married couples and couples preparing for marriage but also by the parishioners who support them on their journey. This collection, which is referred to as “Marriage Matters Bulletin Notes” (download Word version here) in the Joined by Grace books can be included and shared in the Sunday bullet and on parish social media sites to encourage everyone to pray for and support couples engaged to be married.
1. Marriage Matters–because God created it.
“God Himself is that author of marriage,” and He has given it a purpose.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan p. 7
2. Marriage Matters–to the future of society and of the Church.
“The welfare of the family is decisive for the future of the world and that of the Church.”
Pope Francis
Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love), 31
3. Marriage Matters–because from the love of spouses comes the gift of life.
“By their very nature, the institution of matrimony itself and conjugal love are ordained for the procreation and education of children, and find in them their ultimate crown.”
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 48
4. Marriage Matters–because it is a bond between a man and a woman.
“The Church has taught through the ages that marriage is an exclusive relationship between one man and one woman.”
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, p. 7
5. Marriage Matters–because through it spouses become one.
“Thus a man and a woman, who by the marriage covenant of conjugal love ‘are no longer two, but one flesh’ (Mt 19:6) render mutual help and service to each other through an intimate union of their persons and of their actions.”
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 48
6. Marriage Matters–because it is good for the children.
Marriage is the “foundation for the family, where children learn the values and the virtues that will make good Christians as well as good citizen.”
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, p. 8
7. Marriage Matters–because through the sacrament Christ enters our life.
For as God made Himself present to His people in the Old Testament, so now Christ “comes into the lives of married Christians through the sacrament of matrimony.”
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 48
8. Marriage Matters–because Christ teaches spouse how to love.
“He [Christ] abides with them . . . so that, just as He loved the Church and handed Himself over on her behalf, the spouses may love each other with perpetual fidelity through mutual self-bestowal.”
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 48
9. Marriage Matters–because human love is linked with divine love.
“Authentic married love is caught up into divine love . . . so that this love may lead the spouses to God . . .” and in God they find the strength to carry on their roles and responsibilities.
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 48
10. Marriage Matters–because human love is linked with divine love.
“Authentic married love is caught up into divine love. . . . Thus this love can lead spouses to God . . .” and in God they find the strength to carry on their roles and responsibilities.
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 48
11. Marriage Matters–because it is a path to holiness.
Guided and strengthened by God’s grace husband and wife “advance their own perfection, as well as their mutual sanctification, and hence contribute jointly to the glory of God.”
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 48
12. Marriage Matters–because of what the children do for us.
“As living members of the family, children contribute in their own way to making their parents holy.”
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 48
13. Marriage Matters–because it is a sacrament of love.
“The Christian family manifests to all men the Savior’s living presence in the world.”
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 48
14. Marriage Matters–because the family is a holy place.
“The family is, so to speak, the domestic Church. In it parents should, by their word and example be the first preachers of the faith to their children.”
Second Vatican Council
Lumen Gentium (Light of the Nations, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church), 11
15. Marriage Matters–because children learn from their parents.
Husbands and wives are “the first to communicate their faith to their children and to educate them” with their words and example.
Second Vatican Council
Apostolicam Actuositatem (Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity), 11
16. Marriage Matters–because the family is the foundation of society.
“The family has received from God its mission to be the first and vital cell of society.”
Second Vatican Council
Apostolicam Actuositatem (Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity), 11
17. Marriage Matters–because spouses are equal partners.
“Firmly established by the Lord, the unity of marriage will radiate from the equal personal dignity of wife and husband, a dignity acknowledged by mutual and total love.”
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 49
18. Marriage Matters–because the love of spouses is life-giving.
“Parents should regard as their proper mission the task of transmitting human life and educating those to whom it has been transmitted.”
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 50
19. Marriage Matters–because in their union spouses find meaning for their lives.
“Through this union they experience the meaning of their oneness and attain to it with growing perfection day by day.”
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 48
20. Marriage Matters–because the children are its gift.
“Children are really the supreme gift of marriage and contribute very substantially to the welfare of their parents.”
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 50
21. Marriage Matters–because through it God gives us life.
“For God, the Lord of life, has conferred on men the ministry of safeguarding life. Therefore from the moment of conception life must be guarded with great care.”
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 51
22. Marriage Matters–because it prepares children for their vocation.
“Children should be so educated that as adults they can follow their vocation, including a religious one, and choose their state of life.”
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 52
23. Marriage Matters–because it creates a family, the foundation of society.
“The family is the foundation of society. In it various generations come together and help one another.”
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 52
24. Marriage Matters–because spouses help each other to holiness.
“Let the spouses themselves be joined to one another in equal affection, and the work of mutual sanctification.”
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 52
25. Marriage Matters–because the love of husband and wife leads to God.
“This love can lead the spouses to God with powerful effect and can aid and strengthen them in the sublime office of being a father and mother.”
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 48
26. Marriage Matters–because married love brings many blessings.
“This love is eminently human. This love the Lord has judged worthy of special gifts, healing, perfecting, and exalting gifts of grace and charity.”
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 49
27. Marriage Matters–because parents cooperate with God in creating life.
“They [parents] should realize that they are thereby cooperators with the love of God the Creator, and are so to speak, the interpreters of that love.”
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 50
28. Marriage Matters–because it creates a family.
In fulfilling their responsibility to create a family parents “will thoughtfully take into account both their own welfare and that of their children. . . .” In so doing, spouses “must always be governed according to a conscience dutifully conformed to the divine law itself, and should be submissive toward the Church’s teaching office.”
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 50
29. Marriage Matters–because spouses are enriched by their intimacy.
“This love is uniquely expressed and perfected through the marital act. The actions within marriage by which the couple are united intimately and chastely are noble and worthy ones. Expressed in a manner which is truly human, these actions signify and promote that mutual self-giving by which spouses enrich each other with a joyful and thankful will.”
Second Vatican Council
Gaudium et Spes (Joy and Hope, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World), 49
30. Marriage Matters– because parents are called to announce the Gospel.
Marriage and the family are “the first community called to announce the Gospel to the human person during growth and to bring him or her . . . to full human and Christian maturity.”
Saint John Paul II
Familiaris Consortio (On the Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World), 2
31. Marriage Matters–because it is built on true love.
Marriage is like building a house. “You would not wish to build it on the shifting sands of emotions, but on the rock of true love, the love that comes from God.”
Pope Francis
Meeting with Engaged Couples at the Vatican, St. Valentine’s Day 2014
32. Marriage Matters–because it creates a stable family.
“Just as God’s love is stable and lasts forever, we want the love on which a family is based to be stable and to last forever. We must not allow ourselves to be conquered by a ‘throwaway culture.”
Pope Francis
Meeting with Engaged Couples at the Vatican, St. Valentine’s Day 2014.
33. Marriage Matters–because God helps the spouses with his grace.
Today many people believe that it is impossible to love another person “forever.” “This fear of ‘forever’ is cured by entrusting oneself day by day to the Lord Jesus in a life that becomes a daily spiritual path of common growth, step by step. Because ‘forever’ is not simply a questions of duration! A marriage does not succeed just because it last; its quality is also important.”
Pope Francis
Meeting with Engaged Couples at the Vatican, St. Valentine’s Day 2014
34. Marriage Matters–because it is a fascinating journey.
Living together as a couple is “an art, a patient, beautiful and fascinating journey . . . which can be summarized in three words: please, thank you and sorry.”
Pope Francis
Meeting with Engaged Couples at the Vatican, St. Valentine’s Day 2014
35. Marriage Matters–because parents teach courtesy to their children.
“True love does not impose itself with hardness and aggression. . . . St. Francis said that ‘courtesy is the sister of charity.’ . . . Today, in our families, in our world . . . there is a need for far more courtesy.”
Pope Francis
Meeting with Engaged Couples at the Vatican, St. Valentine’s Day 2014
36. Marriage Matters–because spouses are a gift to each other.
“Do we know how to say thank you? In your relationship [as husband and wife] it is important to keep alive your awareness that the other person is a gift from God, and we should always be give thanks for gifts from God.”
Pope Francis
Meeting with Engaged Couples at the Vatican, St. Valentine’s Day 2014
37. Marriage Matters–because it is good even if spouses make mistakes.
“In our lives we make many errors, many mistakes. We all do . . . and this is why we need to be able to use this simple word, ‘sorry.’ Let us learn to recognize our mistakes and apologize.”
Pope Francis
Meeting with Engaged Couples at the Vatican, St. Valentine’s Day 2014
38. Marriage Matters–because it is good even if imperfect.
“We are all aware that the perfect family does not exist, nor does the perfect husband, nor the perfect wife. We exist, and we are sinners. Jesus, who knows us well, teaches us a secret: never let a day go by without asking forgiveness, or without restoring peace in your home. If we learn to apologize and forgive each other, the marriage will last.”
Pope Francis
Meeting with Engaged Couples at the Vatican, St. Valentine’s Day 2014
39. Marriage Matters–because it forms the family, the school of humanity.
The family is “the place where one learns to live and to belong to others, and where parents transmit faith to their children.”
Pope Francis
Meeting with Engaged Couples at the Vatican, St. Valentine’s Day 2014
40. Marriage Matters–because it is a blessing.
“Among the many blessings that God has showered upon us in Christ is the blessing of marriage.”
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 1
41. Marriage Matters–because it is a vocation.
God’s “hand has inscribed the vocation to marriage in the very nature of man and woman.”
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 1
42. Marriage Matters– because it is a gift from God.
Marriage “is something we receive [from God], no something we construct or change to fit our purposes.”
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 4
43. Marriage Matters–because man and woman are made for each other.
“Adam and Eve were literally made for each other. Man and woman have been made to come together in the union of marriage.”
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 10
44. Marriage Matters–because it creates a communion of persons.
“Marriage does not exist solely for the reproduction of another member of the species, but for the creation of a communion of persons”
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 10
45. Marriage Matters–because it produces the family.
The communion of persons that is marriage “has the potential to bring forth human life and thus produce the family, which is . . . the foundation of all human society.”
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 11
46. Marriage Matters–because it has a special purpose.
“Marriage has two fundamental ends or purposes towards which it is oriented, namely, the good of the spouses as well as the procreation of children . . . [it] is both unitive and procreative, and that is its inseparably both.”
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 11
47. Marriage Matters–because through it spouses serve God.
“God established marriage so that man and woman could participate in his love and thus selflessly give themselves to each other in love.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 12
48. Marriage Matters–because the love of spouses is life-giving.
“It is the nature of love to overflow, to be life-giving. . . . Thus . . . marriage is ordained not only to growing in love but to transmitting life.”
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 13
49. Marriage Matters–because of the children.
“Children are a gift in a myriad of ways. They bring joy even in the midst of heartaches; they give added direction to the lives of their parents. Children . . . are the cause of love and meaning.”
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 14
50. Marriage Matters–because it is permanent.
“In their marriage promises, the spouses pledge love and fidelity for as long as they live.”
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 16
51. Marriage Matters–because Christian marriage is a sacrament.
Marriage is one of the Church’s sacraments. “As a sacrament, marriage signifies and makes present to the couple Christ’s total self-giving love.”
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 33
52. Marriage Matters–because it calls spouse to love each other.
“Marriage is a call to give oneself to one’s spouse as fully as Christ gave himself to the Church.”
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, 32