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Explain how the rituals and vowels connected with Christian marriage might influence the different ways that couples approach marriage and marital breakdown. Christians see marriage as a sacrament. Saint Augustine, a bishop in North Africa thought of a sacrament as a ‘sacred sign, which emphasises the union of married couples with God’. He also saw the sacrament of marriage as a sacred contract between two people that cannot be dissolved. Marriage is a sacrament that celebrates the couple’s commitment to share their lives together and to reveal God’s love to each other. There are four main concepts, which underscore the sacramental quality of the marriage. These are ‘mutual self giving’; this is where a person is fully able to allow one’s self to be joined to another. Faithfulness – to be totally committed. Becoming one’s real self – where a person is totally ‘uninhibited’ and creativity – where the couple are able to create a loving environment where all of the above can be performed and to accept children. I believe that marriage is a sacrament because the couple have to make vowels in front of God. These vowels concentrate on devotion i.e always being faithful to each other, to love and to ch