Matrimony

When Jesus was made flesh and came to this world, he elevated matrimony to the status of a sacrament. So, a marriage between two baptized people is a sacramental marriage and cannot be dissolved once it is consummated. You do not want to divorce and remarry once you have been in a sacramental marriage because that is pretty much committing adultery and you would be living a life of mortal sin. When Jesus was on earth, he said, ""Every one who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery" (Luke 16:18; cf. Mark 10:11–12). And, St. Paul goes to say that a man and a woman are bound by sacramental law as long they live. The Church has been proclaiming Christ's teaching on the permanence of marriage from the early times of the Church, and she continues to do the same in this modern time. Although some other Christian denominations have changed some of their teachings in order to allow divorce in their culture, the Catholic Church remains faithful to the early teachings of Jesus.

There are some instances when a divorced couple can remarry even though their ex-spouses are still alive. One of these instances is when a sacramental marriage never even existed to begin with. There has to have been an exchange of valid matrimonial consent between both the man and woman in order for there to be a sacramental marriage. So, without this exchange, there isn't a sacramental marriage taking place. A decree of annulment can be given, allowing the man and woman to remarry, if a diocesan marriage tribunal establishes the fact that there is no real valid marriage. So, there is actually no divorce or remarriage taking place because they were never married before God. Only man may see this as an actual marriage while God does not.

But, if the man and woman are in a sacramental marriage, they cannot remarry even though they may live in separation from one another. St. Paul explains this as he says, "To the married I give charge, not I but the Lord, that the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, let her remain single or else be reconciled to her husband)—and that the husband should not divorce his wife" (1 Cor. 7:10-11). We do not have to worry so much about facing problems of divorce because God is looking over us and makes sure that those that are married have the grace necessary to live out their marriage vows and either stay married or live happily. Because Matrimony is a sacrament, it gives grace to help live how God wants us to live in union with one another as one flesh.