The below quote from the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia is a wonderful way to shine light on the sacramental gift that God chooses to share with us in growing our understanding of how the family works and how through our Lord Jesus we are called to move in relationship through a life of sharing the goodness of God with each other.
“The Gospel of the family also nourishes seeds that are still waiting to grow, and serves as the basis for caring for those plants that are wilting and must not be neglected.” Thus, building on the gift of Christ in the sacrament, married couples “may be led patiently further on in order to achieve a deeper grasp and a fuller integration of this mystery in their lives.”(#76)
We are reminded again and again that attentiveness in relationship is the needed light that helps the depth of understanding to grow between one another. While the Holy Father is speaking directly to the love between a man and a woman in the Sacrament of Marriage this advice flows down into the greater family and into all relationships in one manner or another. We understand this as Pope Francis writes, …(O)nly in contemplating Christ does a person come to know the deepest truth about human relationships…It is particularly helpful to understand in a Christocentric key… the good of the spouses (bonum coniugum)”, which includes unity, openness to life, fidelity, indissolubility and, within Christian marriage, mutual support on the path towards complete friendship with the Lord. (#77) It is this friendship with Jesus that is we are called to enter into on an ongoing basis. We are reminded that it is in the small things that the greater things grow further in life. The challenge that we all face is how in integrate a deepening faith in Jesus through our daily acts of love towards one another. This can be difficult to discover when we choose to isolate ourselves from one another. The ideal is found only when in friendship and conversation with our Lord we discover the dialogue is one of mercy and forgiveness.
We are able to build upon the foundation of love as we seek the better of ourselves through God’s blessings and where we see the other, which in marriage is our spouse, as the gift from God that offers us to contemplate in wonder how we are able to be the blessing of mercy, forgiveness and love in the world to our beloved. Living the Gospel message invites us to nourish one another is joy we find in the sacrifice of a committed choice to serve. It is choosing to in the reciprocal act of love, the give and take of relationship that invites, receives and grows each blessing in the wonder of God’s generosity.
This is where, for Christians, the life of prayer is so important and for the husband and wife become integral in their daily interaction. In prayer for each other and with each other the couple grow in the contemplation of the blessing of the other in their lives. It follows that this continues with the gift of children in calling and leading them into a deepening relationship with Jesus. It is a life of prayer that takes action in recognizing and serving the beloved where the physical, emotional, sexual and spiritual needs of the beloved are honored and cherished in trusting love.
In the vows of marriage, as the husband and wife speak the prayer, the words “I take you” are only possible because the other has given his or her self in surrender to the invitation of lasting and holy love. It is a reminder that man and woman in becoming husband and wife join with Jesus Christ in a grace filled relationship where in desiring the good of the other they show forth the love of God to the world.
God bless
Fr. Mark