What readings can be used in the nuptial liturgy?

[cavalierfan]

I attended a wedding at my church Saturday and the first reading was from the Book of Ruth (“Where you go, I will go…”). As I was sitting in the choir loft and following along, I checked through the Catholic wedding liturgy readings I had in my folder. No Ruth! I thought that we couldn’t use Ruth for weddings.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

The Scripture readings you saw are options for appropriate readings for a nuptial liturgy. With the approval of the celebrant, any appropriate Scripture reading may be used, so long as the template of the Liturgy of the Word (e.g., Old Testament, Psalm, New Testament, Gospel) is followed. The readings should be truly appropriate for a wedding liturgy and not just the couple’s favorite Bible verses, so consultation with the celebrant is critical; but when the readings are appropriate, it can be very lovely to use other parts of Scripture for a wedding. At the weddings I’ve attended in recent years, two of my favorite choices for the Gospel reading that are not included in the standard list of options have been John’s account of the Crucifixion (John 19:17-35) and Luke’s account of the disciples meeting Jesus on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35).