Wedding Season
Posted on: June 3, 2016
- In: Everyday Life | Faith | Family | Marriage
- 2 Comments
Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful. . . .Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-7*
We find ourselves in the middle of wedding season, with many couples choosing May and June to get married. Often this chapter of Corinthians is read at weddings, including mine in 1996.
These aren’t simply beautiful words about love. When we apply them to marriage, we can see that we need to be patient and kind with our spouse, happy for and not jealous of our spouse’s success, willing to compromise, unwilling to hold grudges, and prepared to hang in there during the rough times and not only the smooth ones.
My in-laws have been married for 46 years and my parents, for almost 48. No marriage lasts that long if one spouse always has to be right, have his or her own way, or gives up when things are difficult. No marriage lasts that long if husband and wife let job stress, family conflicts, illness, financial problems, or an inability to forgive drive a wedge between them.
Today couples are too quick to let their relationship slide—slowly or quickly—into separation and even divorce when they hit a bump in the road. But think about these words of Jesus from Mark 10:7-9:
“‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.”
Pulling apart a marriage isn’t supposed to be easy because our lives are meant to become one on our wedding day.
If we know a couple who has been married a long time, we should ask them their secret. It won’t be selfishness or resentment or barely veiled contempt; we’ll probably hear that it’s commitment to loving each other and to staying together, hard work, love, and selfless giving.
I pray that, whether we’re engaged, newly wed or married for a long time, we would give more thought to these passages and renew our commitment to our partner in thought, word and deed.
(*Scripture quotes taken from the Holy Bible, Revised Standard Version, 2nd Catholic Edition.)
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2 Responses to "Wedding Season"
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A Catholic Convert in Ottawa 
June 3, 2016 at 7:02 pm
Beautifully written Lise. It is sad that so many marriages break down these days, or so it seems anyways. The fruits of a long and happy.marriage are many but does take a lot of give and take from both husband and wife. Doug and I are very proud of you.
June 4, 2016 at 9:24 am
Thanks for your comment. It means a lot to me. And I couldn’t agree more.