How do we honor our vows after our wedding day?
Catholic marital vows are no joke.
We know that the trend in popular culture is to write our own marital vows in an effort to put our own words to our feelings of the big day. But the Church has given us vows, not as an exemplification of the words that we wish to say to our beloved, but as a reminder of what we are promising from this day forward.
Here is what we promise:
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 honor you all the days of my life.
On the first reading, these words can be extremely dry and certainly not very flowery and romantic.
But they are clear and direct. As you recite them, know what you’re saying. The challenge is living these vows our every day of your marriage, in the big and small moments.
More than giving us a to-do list of things we need to check off to make sure we living our vows our well, the Church’s vows are a reminder that the promise we make is about our internal disposition.
Are we ready to accept what comes with faith, hope, and charity? And do we acknowledge the requirement of grace to put it all together?
In God’s wisdom, He has given us a an example of how to say “yes” well.
Listen to our latest episode of Pre-Cana with the Pope where we discuss Mary’s example of “yes” and how we can learn to say “yes” to our marital vows humbly and freely!