Note: This article is part of an ongoing series on Pope St. John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body” (TOB).

In Part Two of TOB, Pope St. John Paul II reflected at length on marriage. First, his reflections on the sacramentality of marriage largely centered on analyzing Ephesians 5 where the relationship between Christ and the Church is described using spousal terms. We saw how Christ’s gift of Himself to the Church results in a convergence of redemptive love and spousal love. Redemptive love seeks and saves the lost through acts of sacrifice whereas spousal love seeks intimate union with the beloved. As Bridegroom of the Church—and of each of our souls—Jesus’ love for us integrates these elements, and He calls us as His disciples to emulate His example in our own marriages.

Moreover, as members of Christ’s body, the marriage of Christian spouses is a participation in Christ’s spousal union with the Church. This participation guarantees the indissolubility of our marital bonds and provides a direct channel of grace to live this beautiful vocation despite our human weakness.

After completing his reflections on Ephesians 5 and the sacramental gracing of marriage, Pope St. John Paul II moved on to reflect on the “sign” dimension of marriage. Recall that the late pope tended to use the word “sacrament” in a broad sense as a way to refer to anything that has the function of “revealing” and “realizing” an aspect of God’s salvific plan for humanity.

A sacrament has an aspect of a “sign” that reveals some aspect of God and His plan for us while also actualizing God’s plan by putting us in direct contact with Him and His grace. As we have seen, Christian marriage fits this description by immersing us in Jesus’ spousal union with the Church. This participation in Christ’s spousal love helps explain the “realizing” aspect of the Sacrament of Marriage, but what of the “revealing” or “sign” dimension?

Each of the sacraments of the Church involves certain words, gestures, and materials that are taken up into a specific liturgical action conducted by certain prescribed people. In marriage, the sacrament is administered by the man (bridegroom) and the woman (bride). As baptized Christians, they conjointly administer the sacrament through the words of marital consent solemnly given during the wedding liturgy and witnessed by the priest or deacon and by other parties in attendance. The priest or deacon further blesses the couple’s consent.

For Pope St. John Paul II, the sign aspect of marriage consists in the mutual gift of self, signified first by the words spoken during the wedding liturgy and later through the bodily gestures of marital consummation. Let us examine the words spoken by the man and woman in the Catholic wedding liturgy.

First, the couple publicly testifies that they are fully aware of what they are about to do, are doing so freely, and are prepared to carry it out. To this end, the priest or deacon asks the couple, “Have you come here to enter into marriage without coercion, freely, and wholeheartedly?” He then follows with, “Are you prepared… to love and honor each other for as long as you both shall live?” Lastly, for those of childbearing years, “Are you prepared to accept children lovingly from God and to bring them up according to the law of Christ and His Church?” These are all prerequisites for the marital consent that the couple is about to exchange. They establish the basic conditions (e.g., knowledge, freedom, capacity to take up the vocation, openness to life) necessary for marital consent.

Having publicly asserted their readiness and intentions, the man and woman, as ministers of the sacrament of marriage, then solemnly speak the words that bring the marriage into existence. These words take the form of a lifelong vow: “I (name) take you (name) to be my wife/husband. I promise to be faithful to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love you and to honor you all the days of my life.” This permanent (for the rest of one’s life), exclusive (you and no other), unconditional (in good and bad) gift of self is the essential sign of marriage.

With Pope St. John Paul II’s help, we will continue to unpack their meaning and explore how the body must participate in and harmoniously express this language of self-donation.