Matthew 19:3-6

When Jesus is asked about divorce in Matthew's Gospel, he goes straight to Genesis. He does not appeal to Mosaic law or to common practice; he appeals to creation itself. "From the beginning the Creator made them male and female... So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate." For a Catholic wedding, this Gospel is the clearest possible statement of what marriage actually is.

The Catholic Church has always understood marriage as indissoluble. That word is sometimes heard as a restriction, but it is meant first as a promise. What God joins, no power on earth can separate: not the couple's own future hesitations, not the surrounding culture's shifting opinions, not the difficulties that will inevitably come. The bond formed at sacramental consent is held in being by God himself. To choose this Gospel is to embrace that promise openly, to receive marriage as the unbreakable covenant the Church has always proclaimed it to be.

The line "the two become one flesh" recovers the Genesis vision (the very first language Scripture uses about marriage) and seals it with Jesus' own authority. Your marriage today is being placed inside that ancient and unbroken stream. The couple at Cana, the first Christian married couples, every faithful marriage across the centuries: they all stand in the same stream you are stepping into.

For couples who want the Gospel itself to proclaim the heart of Catholic teaching on marriage, Matthew 19 is the natural choice.