Wedding Ceremony, John Paul II, 25 February 1979

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II
DURING THE WEDDING CEREMONY OF TWO YOUNG ROMANS

Sunday, 25 February 1979

Dear Bride and Bridegroom,

You will shortly utter the words of the sacramental promise which will make you husband and wife in Christ Jesus before God and the Church. They are concise words (you certainly know them by heart), but their significance, their special importance, their unitive power, are particularly great. Promising each other love, faithfulness, and virtue in marriage, not only will you confirm again what your young hearts bear witness to now, but at the same time you will lay the foundations for the construction of the home of your common future. Man must live on the earth, and to live there he needs not only a building constructed on a material foundation; today he needs a spiritual foundation. Love, faithfulness, and virtue in marriage constitute that foundation on which alone the matrimonial community can rest, the foundation on which the spiritual dwelling for the future family can be built.

All of us gathered here attach great importance to these words, which you will utter shortly. We know what value these words have, for you personally and, at the same time, how important they are for the Church and for society.

We wish, and above all we implore from God, one thing only for you on this day: that these words may constitute the principle of your whole life; that you may be able, with the help of divine grace, to put them into practice in your lives, reciprocally observing these solemn vows, which today you made in turn before God.

May Christ be with you always. Never take your eyes off him. Seek him in your thought, in your heart and in your prayer, so that he may guide your young love towards these great tasks, the responsibility for which you assume from today onwards. And may new men—your children, the future fruit of your union—bear witness that you are carrying out faithfully the eternal plan of love of the Creator himself; and subsequently may they find, through you, the way to Christ and to his Church. In this way you will give thanks to God for the love which he has brought forth in your hearts and which he permits you today to express and confirm with this great sacrament.