Fruitful is the second point is Fruitful, showing that the couple are planning to have children if they can, can bring them up in the Catholic teaching, helping them through the sacraments and different stages in their lives. The priest says ‘are you ready to accept children lovingly from God, and bring them up according to the law of Christ and his church?’ The Roman Catholic Church believes that sex should not take place outside of marriage, and sex within marriage should not use contraception, meaning that they are open to the possibility of having children and so helping to spread God’s love. Other Christians believe that contraception is acceptable, whereas within the Catholic Church all types of artificial contraception are unacceptable. All Christian faiths are against abortion, as the unborn child is a gift from God, and so should not be tampered with, or killed. Fruitful can also mean that they will aid their partner live their life willingly, as if it is not possible for the couple to have children, the marriage can still be life giving if they help each other live their lives to the best that they can, and bring out the real person inside of each other, an example of this would be a group of friends that you feel really comfortable with, and can act yourself with them at all times.
Thirdly, I’d like to focus on the act of being Faithful, the aim being that you will not abuse your position in marriage, and you will remain loyal to your partner at all times. This doesn’t only mean in your actions, but in your thoughts as well, therefore adultery is considered unacceptable. More commonly referred to as having an affair threatens the life and peace that a family may have and can destroy a normal, peaceful, happy family apart and can disrupt the life hugely and change the actions and ways in which the children in that family may act. This evil act breaks the unity of a strong couple. The vows state that the couple will love and cherish each other, this means removing yourself from temptation, being faithful sexually, loyal in your dreams and being honest with each other in every aspect of your life. The priest asks whether the couple ‘give themselves freely and without reservation?’, and as they agree to this, they are showing that they are ready to commit themselves totally to this marriage and to each other.
The final point is the Sacrament, in the Roman Catholic Church, marriage is a sacrament, explaining that it can only be taken once in any person’s life as a sacrament. It is a public ceremony, and the vows are witnessed by everyone at the ceremony, including God and the priest to support the couple’s future. It is part of God’s plan, not just an excuse for two people to live together and have children. The Roman Catholic Church doesn’t recognise divorce so the only way for a person to marry again in a church is to have an annulment, this only happens in special cases, and has to be looked over very carefully by the church.
To conclude, I would say that the main belief in marriage in the church is being forever; because if you do not want to spend the rest of your lives together then there is no point in making this sacrament and if you fell like this together there is no love entering the marriage, and without love there is no marriage.
