Symbols of marriage

There are many beautiful and meaningful symbols for the sacrament of marriage.

A single wedding ring. One ring symbolizes the fidelity of the marriage bond. The ring is round without beginning or end to represent the never-ending nature of marriage. The hollow center signifies that marriage is a channel of love from one spouse to the other. The ring presses tightly upon the finger, showing that each spouse is tightly bound to the other with a firm, intimate and chaste love reserved solely for one’s spouse. Two interlocking wedding rings. Interlocking rings are inseparable, they cannot be pulled apart, and therefore represent the permanence and indissolubility of the marriage covenant. Jesus said, “What God has joined together, no human being must separate” (Mk 10:9).

Three flowers. The flowers may be roses,

DAILY Scriptures

of Christian belief: that the Age of Fulfillment (i.e., the Kingdom/Reign of God) has dawned in the life, ministry, deeds, death and resurrection of Jesus, that we are living in the period of the unfolding of this Age, and that we are to be witnesses-in-action to this Age until Christ brings an end to history (understood not only as concluding time but revealing time’s purpose).

The Gospel appointed for Easter Day (Jn 20:1-9) illustrates another way in which the New Testament presents Jesus’ resurrection, a so-called “empty tomb” narrative. In such a story, people visit Jesus’ tomb expecting to find his decomposing corpse, but do not find any bodily remains. Notice that such a story does not compel belief in the resurrection (e.g., people may have identified the wrong site; Jesus’ followers might have moved his body in order to honor it; Jesus may have been drugged, giving the appearance of having died, but revived and left the tomb under his own power; etc.) but provides a “pre-condition” for belief in the resurrection of Jesus. The Gospel recounts three witnesses — Mary of Magdala first and then Simon Peter and the Beloved Disciple, John, upon her urging — finding no bodily presence of Jesus in the tomb, but only burial cloths.

The third way in which the New Testament narrates Jesus’ resurrection is by means of “appearance stories” in which witnesses encounter Jesus alive after his crucifixion. It is significant that all three of the witnesses to the empty tomb in John’s Gospel also have direct encounters with the risen Lord in which they report being with the same Jesus they had known in bodily form throughout his ministry, but carnations, or another type of flower, and are usually red or white. They symbolize that there are three parties to a marriage: two that are visible, the wife and the husband, and the unseen and all-important third party, almighty God. A three-ply rope. This symbol is based upon the Scripture verse, “A threeply cord is not easily broken” (Eccl 4:12a). The rope has three strands, which are understood to symbolize God, the wife, and the husband. The strands are tightly woven together and signify that a couple tightly connected to each other and to God is far stronger than a solitary individual. with that bodily form transformed “into glory” (e.g., one still bearing the wounds of the crucifixion but alive and able to eat earthly food; one whose body could pass through walls; etc.). Each of the suggested second readings (Col 3:1-4 or 1 Cor 5:6b-8) derive their authority from the “appearance story” recounted by Paul (Acts 9, 22; 1 Cor 15; 2 Cor 12; Gal 1) and exhort those believing in Christ to live in the “between times” through worship and mission.

The marriage cross. A cross or Chi-Rho is prominently displayed in the center, with the lower part of the vertical beam between the overlapping portion of two interlocking wedding rings. The rings symbolize the wife and husband, and the cross or Chi-Rho represents Jesus. The cross is higher, which symbolizes his authority. The beam between the rings acknowledges that Jesus is the center of every Christian marriage. The grace that he offers holds couples together. Water jars. There were six stone water jars at the Cana wedding feast (Jn 2:6), and the miracle of so much water being changed into so much wine represents the abundant outpouring of grace by Jesus on the couple on their wedding day and every day for as long as they shall live.

Rather than thinking of Easter as a purely past event (the vindication of a dead martyr), or a purely present event (the joy of being undeservedly and radically forgiven), we might want to consider how the resurrection of Jesus presents God’s intention for our future, revealed in the present, so that we might revise our understanding of the past.

As Gerhard Lohfink writes in “Is This All There Is? On Resurrection and Eternal Life”: “(P)recisely because the Easter event in Jesus ... was experienced not as rapture nor as the reception of a martyr into heaven nor as exaltation but as resurrection from the dead, it is clear that the resurrection of all the dead, the return home and transformation of the world, God’s new creation that is the goal of all history — all that has ‘already’ begun in Jesus’ resurrection.” (p. 123)

Though retired as an artist in residence at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Father Joncas continues to celebrate the sacraments in various worshiping communities in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, teaches in person or online, and continues to write articles and music.

Two clasped hands. The hands of the bride and groom firmly grasping each other signify the strength of their union as a couple and their commitment to walking the journey of married life together. Two hands covered with a stole. The stole is a symbol of a priest or a deacon. When placed over the joined hands of the bride and groom, it recognizes that their marriage is a sacrament. Two doves. The doves represent bliss, the delight that the wife and husband have in each other as well as the joy that they experience together.

The unity candle. There are three white candles on a stand or table: a large pillar candle in the middle with two smaller taper candles on either side. The smaller candles represent the bride and groom as individuals, and the large candle, which is lit after their exchange of vows, symbolizes the two united as one. A heart. A heart represents love. Love is the greatest of the virtues (1 Cor 13:13) and the distinguishing characteristic of a Christian (Jn 13:35). St. Paul wrote, “Husbands, love your wives” (Eph 5:25a). A wife and a husband love each other with all their hearts.

Father Van Sloun is the director of clergy personnel for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. This column is part of a series on the sacrament of marriage.