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10 FEB-MAR 2024 | DENVER CATHOLIC 10 When a couple is married in the Church, they receive graces from God to be an image of Christ's love in the world and carry out their mission as husband and wife." Lastly comes a good that belongs only to Christian marriage: the sacramental bond. What does that mean? The Church is not unaware, of course, that people get married, have children, and remain faithful even if they are not Christian and do not have a marriage in the Church. These kinds of marriages outside the Church are what we call "natural marriage," an institution also invented and founded by God in the garden of Eden. Through Christ's marriage to the Church on the cross, however, the Lord elevated natural marriage to something supernatural; this is Christian marriage. When a couple is married in the Church, they receive graces from God to be an image of Christ's love in the world and carry out their mission as husband and wife. Given how difficult marriage is today, we can appreciate that God wishes to help us remain faithful, raise children and so on. But even beyond this help, the sacramental bond — the invisible, spiritual connection gained by a man and woman married in the Church — transfigures married life into a new reality. Just as when the priest says the words of consecration at Mass and the bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Christ, so also when a man and woman profess their vows at the altar, a true transformation takes place in their life. Their relationship is no longer merely one consisting of human goods like affection and care (although these are great things), but it is also one that shows forth in the world the supernatural beauty of Christ's marriage to the Church. Just as Christ laid down his life for us, so married cou- ples lay down their lives for one another and in so doing become a source of grace for the world and contribute to its sanctification (its being made more holy, its being made a better place). By being married in the Church, your mar- riage is empowered by the Holy Spirit, and becomes a pow- erful sign of God's love in the world. What a blessing! FEB-MAR 2024 | DENVER CATHOLIC Sacramental Bond