In 2011, we saw society, our media and the world celebrate the extravagance and elegance of two wedding days with worldwide broadcasts and TV specials. Some people took the day off from work to watch the weddings of Prince William and Kate Middleton and Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries.

Rarely, if ever, does society, the media or the world recognize couples who have lived out their lifelong journey of marriage with all its joys, sorrows, hopes, dreams and disappointments. No TV reporters ever interviewed my parents and in-laws about what it takes to live a committed sacramental marriage for more than 45 years. TV specials seldom address the question, "What does it mean to live out your lifelong partnership until death do you part?" No, it appears the world would much rather have a TV special answer the question, "What went wrong for Kim and Kris after 72 days of marriage?"

A great piece of advice was given to me just before I married my wife almost 17 years ago. "Marriage is a lifelong journey, not just a day."

The church teaches us that God authored marriage when he created people in his own image. In creation, the Lord placed on the hearts of males and females the desire to love and give themselves totally to another person. This total giving of oneself to another person is the heart of marriage. It is an intimate communion of persons, an intimate knowledge of the spouse.

Scripture describes this intimate knowledge in this way: "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of ‘her man’ this one has been taken.’ That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body" (Gn 2:23-24).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: "The intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state has been established by the Creator and endowed by him with its own proper laws .... God himself is the author of marriage.’ The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution … ‘The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life.’" (CCC #1603)

On Feb. 12, many parishes in the diocese will mark the annual observance of World Marriage Day. Twenty-nine years ago, Worldwide Marriage Encounter encouraged U.S. bishops to observe the second Sunday in February as World Marriage Day. The purpose of this day is to honor husbands and wives as head of the family, the basic unit of society. It salutes the beauty of their faithfulness, sacrifice, and joy in daily married life.