*Monday, September 30 is a statutory holiday

Marriage is crucial to the life of the Church and the world. The primary foundation of human society is the married couple, not the individual.

Receiving the sacrament of matrimony signifies more than expressing romantic feelings; it signifies the couple's belief that God has called them to this love and entrusted it to them as their primary mission.

"Follow your heart" has ended more marriages, caused more addictions, mutilated more bodies, destroyed more souls, and ended more lives than Satan could have imagined. It's one of Hell's most effective slogans. Don't follow your heart. Follow the One who created it.

Love is the light, and in the end, the only light that can always illuminate a world grown dim and give us the courage to keep living and working. We can practice love because we are created in the image of God (Pope Benedict XVI).

Just as of old God encountered his people with a covenant of love and fidelity, so our Savior, the spouse of the Church, now encounters Christian spouses through the sacrament of Matrimony. Christ dwells with them, gives them the strength to take up their crosses and so follow him, to rise again after they have fallen, to forgive one another, to bear one another’s burdens, to “be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ,” and to love one another with supernatural, tender, and fruitful love. In the joys of their love and family life he gives them here on earth a foretaste of the wedding feast of the Lamb. (CCC 148-150)

Grace has the power to make straight the paths of human love. (St. John Paul II)

How can I adequately convey the joy of a marriage sanctified by the Church, fortified by an offering, consecrated by a blessing, heralded by angels, and sanctioned by the Father? The bond between two believers is remarkable—one in hope, one in desire, one in discipline, and united in service. They are children of the same Father and servants of the same Master, indivisible in spirit and flesh, truly becoming one in body and spirit. Where the flesh is unified, so too is the spirit. (Tertullian)

St. Gregory of Nazianzus reflects on his parents' marriage:

They inspire us toward virtue...he has been her guiding shepherd, for whom she has prayed and led along his path; from her, he has learned the example of being a good shepherd. Both share equal dignity, unity of mind, and harmony of soul, not only in their virtuous partnership and closeness to God but also in their physical unity. They vie equally in the longevity of their lives and the wisdom of their years, their prudence shining brightly...they are only slightly hindered by their physical bodies, yet far advanced in spirit. The world neither possesses them nor do they possess it—disregarding one world while greatly valuing the other. They have relinquished their earthly riches and have grown rich through the pursuit of holiness, forsaking one form of wealth to attain the world to come's treasures.

We dedicate everything we are and have to Mary: our marriage, work, family, and life. Mary leads us to salvation. She is the one who crushes all heresies; she is the Mystical City of God, the Paradise prepared for us, the Mediatrix of All Grace, Wisdom, our Protector, Consoler, Advocate, and Mother. She is the Immaculate Conception, the Queen of Heaven and Earth. May Our Lady's will be done in all things; may God help us refrain from interference.