Considering the extreme demands of marriage, making the promises of marriage is something that should not be taken lightly. Catholics who marry must have a deep understanding of God’s presence in marriage and the sacredness of the marriage covenant. In Christian marriage love between the spouses is such a fundamental block of marriage, that the marriage tribunal of the Roman Catholic Church has ruled that if love is missing from a marriage then that marriage is invalid. In the Palestinian Jewish marriage custom, marriage was regarded obligatory and was a covenant between two families. Earlier marriage between Christians did not involve any ceremony. Starting in the 4th Century when the Christians were free to practice their religion, bishops and priests were invited to wedding feas

As time passed by, priests started assuming some of the functions that once were relegated to the guardians and the spouses themselves, and many of the secular customs in the wedding ceremony became part of an ecclesiastical wedding trial (Martos 37).

According to the Roman tradition marriage was by consent, and after the consent was given by either spouses or their guardians marriage was considered legal and binding, however in other traditions marriage was not considered to be complete until the first act of intercourse. In the middle of the 12th century marriage was unlike other rituals that were considered sacramental, there were primarily three reasons for this the first one being the involvement of financial arrangements in marriage, another problem with marriage being a sacrament was that marriage existed before Christ and lastly the most important reason marriage involved sexual intercourse.

It was only in the Council of Florence (1438-45) that the Church declared marriage one of the seven sacraments. The Council of Trent (1545-63) confirmed this teaching and ruled that for a marriage to be valid (Martos 44).

In a sacramental marriage the couple promises to be faithful to each other for the rest of their lives. Faithfulness is more than a physical commitment. It is also mental, emotional and spiritual. Faithfulness to one’s spouse implies that they are one flesh and one body. This unity is a focal point around which the growth of the marriage continues. Permanence is intrinsically linked to faithfulness. To be faithful forever implies the marriage is forever. It is the promise of faithfulness that demands that any married couple seek appropriate counseling, when they feel that their relationship is not healthy anymore, to help them grow more deeply into the

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