Marriage Vows

 

It is your right to know the content of the marriage vows before the day of your wedding. You must understand the words used, their meanings and implications and be sure it is something you agree to. It is highly recommended that you even memorize them.

This is far more important than booking for make-up artists ahead of the wedding day or a hall or cake or distributing aseobi materials upandan.

But as always, we will always major in the minors, and like a friend will add, "and minor in the majors."

Let me make this emphasis. . .the most important part of a church wedding is the exchange of vows. The words of the vows are the heart, the soul, the kpim, if you like. . .the essential element of the sacrament of marriage; they form the covenant that establishes the couple’s marriage.

The Church calls the exchange of vows consent, which is to say, it is the act of the will by which a man and a woman give themselves FREELY to each other and accept the gift of the other. Marriage CAN'T happen without the declaration of consent.

There is also this growing trend among couples to brag about the number of priests or

Bishops that attended their wedding. Even church members will be like, 30 priests came for his wedding. Three Arch Popes laid hands on them. And like in this picture of Moses Bliss and his wife, you could already see what I mean.

While it is good that ministers attend your wedding and pray for you, it is not their prayers that made you man and woman (husband and wife), rather, it is your vow or consent before God and his people. It is not also the hands laid on you that make you both stay together but your convictions every day to keep to the vows you made to each other.

For Catholics preparing for marriage, this is what you will see. . .

Before the Marriage vows, there are three questions that the priest will ask. . . These questions will ascertain if you are ready to enter into marriage.

They are:

1. "(Name of the Man) and (name of the woman), have you come here to enter into Marriage without coercion, freely and wholeheartedly?"

2. "Are you prepared, as you follow the path of Marriage, to love and honor each other for as long as you both shall live?"

3. "Are you prepared to accept children lovingly from God and to bring them up according to the law of Christ and his Church?"

The bride and groom respond "I have" or "I am"

After this, the priest will then invite the bride and groom to make their vows. There are about four options of the vows, but below is the standard version. Note: The man and the woman will say the same thing bearing in mind their names.

"I, (name), take you, (name), to be my wife/husband. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honour you all the days of my life."

If you do a careful word-to-word analysis of the above, you will understand the depth and weight of the vows.

Now, assuming everyone making this vow keeps them, most of the problems we are having today in marriages will cease to exist.

@fada Ugwu