Marriage

Three quotes:

First, another beautiful quote from our beloved Pope B! You never really consider that the Pope thinks about things like crying babies in the night! How blessed we are to have such a wonderfully human, but oh-so-wise, Holy Father!


On married couples

We should learn to accept, whether we are priests or married persons, the need to endure the crisis of change, of the other, the crisis of when it seems one can no longer stay together or proceed as before.

Married couples should learn to learn together how to move ahead, if only for the love of their children, and in so doing, to get to know each other anew, love each other anew with a love that is much more profound and much more genuine.
Thus love truly matures, through a long course, beset with suffering.

I think we priests can learn from married couples, from their
suffering and sacrifice. Often we think that only celibacy is sacrifice. But in getting to learn the sacrifices of married persons - think of raising children, the problems that arise from that, the fears, the suffering, the ailments, rebelliousness, or just think of the first years of having children, with sleepless nights attending to crying babies - there is much we can learn from their sacrifices, and our own sacrifices.

from the catechism, about why not to live together before marriage

Some today claim a "right to a trial marriage" where there is an
intention of getting married later. However firm the purpose of those who engage in premature sexual relations may be, "the fact is that such liaisons can scarcely ensure mutual sincerity and fidelity in a relationship between a man and a woman, nor, especially, can they protect it from inconstancy of desires or whim." Carnal union is morally legitimate only when a definitive community of life between a man and woman has been established. Human love does not tolerate "trial marriages." It demands a total and definitive gift of persons to one another. Catechism #2391

finally, although not specifically pertaining to marriage, this quote from Pope St. Gregory high-lights the importance of loving in actions. Anyone can 'love' in words, but true love is a decision we make, not a feeling we have. And so genuine love can only be shown in our actions:

The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works
great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist.
– Pope St. Gregory the Great