“The bonds of friendship make the demands of discipleship bearable. “Bering one another’s burdens,” within the Christian community, enables its members to walk a path of healing and conversion.” (#170 Love is our Mission)

This weekend I will be witnessing the sacramental marriage of my nephew Phillip and his wife Bethany. The con-validation of their marriage is a moment of great joy and blessing to them, their children and the whole family. We, as children of God, are always in process but if we truly follow the call to truth and love we will always find our self on this holy journey together with Jesus at our side.

When Phil and Bethany celebrate the Sacrament they are to become the bond of friendship will deepen and be graced and blessed in the unique way of becoming husband and wife. As the quote above reminds us, the relationship of the man and woman in marriage calls them to walk the path of healing, the path of grace, and the path of salvation.

I will remind Phil and Bethany that their one work within marriage is to get the other to heaven. (1 Cor 7:14-15) In the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia the Church puts it this way, “The sacrament of marriage is not a social convention, an empty ritual or merely the outward sign of a commitment. The sacrament is a gift given for the sanctification and salvation of the spouses, since “their mutual belonging is a real representation, through the sacramental sign, of the same relationship between Christ and the Church. The married couple are therefore a permanent reminder for the Church of what took place on the cross; they are for one another and for their children witnesses of the salvation in which they share through the sacrament” “(72)

Phil and Bethany will become the “gift given” as they take each other in the vows they pray. To become a gift of the beloved is the opening of hope in the joy of love. The gift (husband and wife) is freely given and without bounds that withhold any part of the gift. This is the hard part and why the first quote of walking a “path of healing and conversion” becomes the essential part of the marital love growing through their conjugal love within the sacramental life of husband and wife.

I will share with them through the “mutual belonging” they come to life and share life in the dignity of Jesus Christ. It is the obedience in love to the others that opens the true reality of the friendship that flowers through spousal love which moves through the fullness of life and new life and new hope flowers in their relationship.

We will talk about how the cross becomes for them the tree of life as they become living witnesses to mercy and healing to each other, their children and all whom they meet in their journey of life.

The tree of life is a tree of blessing where the fruit of blessing in joy and fun thrive. Marriage is a place of laughter and grace where true joy comes to life in the shared gift of faithfulness and love. Marriage is the place where shared smiles, shared touches and shared blessings feed the happiness of the soul for each other.

Marriage is where the rituals of life find their deeper meaning. The morning kiss becomes a kiss of blessing, the shared coffee becomes a gift of unity and the spoken word becomes a prayer that binds us closer together in God’s divine love.

Lastly, we will remind them to laugh daily, to forgive hourly and to embrace their beloved continually in the love of knowing that as we embrace the other we truly embrace our cross, a cross blossoming in forgiveness, mercy and joyful love.

God Bless

Fr. (Uncle) Mark