Sealing (Mormonism)

thumb|175px|A couple following their marriage in the [[Manti Utah Temple.]]

Sealing is an ordinance (ritual) performed in Latter Day Saint temples by a person holding the sealing authority. The purpose of this ordinance is to seal familial relationships, making possible the existence of family relationships throughout eternity. Sealings are typically performed as marriages or as sealing of children to parents. They were performed prior to the death of Joseph Smith (the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement), and subsequently performed in the largest of the faiths that came from the movement, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). LDS Church teachings place great importance on the specific authority required to perform these sealings. Church doctrine teaches that this authority, called the priesthood, corresponds to that given to Saint Peter in . This ritual may be performed by living people for themselves, and also by proxy for eligible dead people.

Sealings

Faithful Latter Day Saints believe civil marriages are dissolved at death, but that a couple who has been sealed in a temple will be married beyond physical death and the resurrection if they remain faithful. This means that in the afterlife they and their family will be together forever. An illustrative difference in the marriage ceremony performed in the LDS Church's temples is the replacement of the words "until death do us part" with "for time and all eternity".

The LDS Church recognizes other monogamous, heterosexual marriages, both civil and religious, although they believe that such marriages will not continue after death because eternal marriages must be performed by priesthood authority. Eternal marriages are also performed vicariously for the deceased, of effect after receiving all other saving ordinances. As with sealings of living persons, they are sealed with their spouse and their children.

Couples who have children born to them before being sealed may have their children sealed to them afterwards. Couples who have children after being sealed need not have their children sealed to them in a separate ceremony. Children born to sealed parents are born in the covenant and are automatically sealed to their parents. Adopted children may be sealed to their adoptive parents once the adoption has been legally finalized.

The union of a sealed couple is regarded as valid only if both individuals have kept their religious covenants and followed Christ's teachings. Just as deceased individuals may refuse any temple ordinance (such as a sealing) done by proxy on their behalf, couples, parents, and children who were sealed to each other in life may refuse to accept a sealing of which they were a part. No one will be sealed to any one with whom they do not want to be sealed.

Only worthy members of the LDS Church, who hold current valid temple recommends, can attend and witness sealings. Non-member family and friends generally wait in the temple waiting room during the sealing ceremony.

Since the LDS Church rejects same-sex marriages, these unions are not performed in temples and are not recognized by the church.

Ceremony and vows

right|thumb|upright=0.9|A woman in [[Temple robes#Latter Day Saint tradition|ceremonial temple clothing used during the wedding ceremony sits next to the sealing room altar over which the sealings are performed. The infinite reflection of the double mirrors is seen in the background.]]

A temple sealing for a living couple has the man and woman kneel on opposite sides of an altar in a temple sealing room while wearing ceremonial temple robes. They grasp each other's right hand while facing double mirrors that create an infinite reflection. The male sealer then reads the following vows to groom (and then repeats the same vows with the changes noted in parentheses) to which they are to respond "yes".

They are then pronounced husband and wife and promised blessings.

In several countries (e.g. Argentina, Mexico, Germany) all marriages are performed at the local municipality by a registrar who is duly authorized to perform marriages. The couple will then go to the temple to have the sealing ordinance performed.

In May 2019, the LDS Church removed a prior one-year waiting period of couples deemed to be worthy between civil and temple marriage. In countries where a civil ceremony is required before marriage, the couples must receive their sealing as soon as practical after the civil ceremony.

A cancellation typically follows after a civil divorce when a woman seeks to be sealed to another man. A man must apply for a sealing clearance to marry another woman after he has been civilly divorced, even if he has already received a cancellation of sealing.

Legacy of plural marriage

It has been argued that the LDS Church's policy on sealings and cancellations reflect its doctrine of plural marriage. Although plural marriage is currently prohibited in the church, a man can be sealed to multiple women, in the case of widowers who are sealed to both their deceased and living wives. Additionally, men who are dead may be sealed by proxy to all women to whom they were legally married while alive. Recent changes in church policy also allow women to be sealed to multiple men, but only after both she and her husband(s) are dead. Church leaders have neither explained this change, nor its doctrinal implications. Proxy sealings, like proxy baptisms, are merely offered to the person in the afterlife.

Citations

General references

External links

The Family: A Proclamation to the World (Formal statement on marriage from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)