Every Sunday, Bishop Edward Malesic writes a Scripture reflection for the faithful. Follow the bishop on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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Normally every June in Cleveland, we gather those who are celebrating 50 years of marriage in our Cathedral to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary.
What a beautiful experience that is every year!
These couples have come to understand that marital love is more than simply a feeling — it is more than the initial stirrings of physical attraction. It is a commitment for life. They inspire us with their commitment to each other.
Love between a husband and a wife has its origin in God. God is the one doing the joining when a man and a woman say “yes” to God’s plan for them in marriage. We believe that when two Christian believers freely and knowingly exchange marital promises to what God intends for them, God unites the two of them with a glue that makes them inseparable in this life in such a way that it becomes impossible for us to think of the one without thinking of the other. God has made them one.
Finally, marriage is a partnership of the whole of life. The fact that Eve was created from Adam’s rib makes her his equal. She was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. Eve was the same “stuff” as Adam was. When God unites a couple in marriage, it is not meant to be an unbalanced relationship. As someone has said before, marriage is not a 50/50 partnership. It is a total gift of self. It is a 100 percent gift of both the husband and the wife.
Still, we know that sometimes one partner must carry more of the responsibility in life than the another. For example, when a wife must take care of an ailing husband. Or when a husband is overseas to serve our country. Or when one spouse must work harder because the other has lost a job.
I want to thank the good and committed couples that I have known in life, beginning with my own parents. They have taught me — and all of us — that love is more than a feeling of attraction. Love is a decision to be there for each other. It is not always easy, but as disciples of Jesus, it is required. This type of love — a love that is sacrificial — has also taught all of us what it means to be a member of the community of the Church. We must be there for each other too.
These married couples have taught me that the promises we make to one another are not meant to be broken — and that being true to each other will require this commitment in bad times as well as in good.
And that is why St. Paul told us that marriage is an image of Christ’s love for his Church (see Ephesians 5:32). Marriage, at its best, teaches us that the nature of God’s love is patient, kind, enduring, and forgiving.
Christ gave his life for his Church. Marriage is the sacramental image of that, where one person gives his or her life to the other. Marriage is the great reality that teaches us about God’s love for his Church. That is why Jesus calls each of us, including husbands and wives, to a higher level of love than Moses did. We are meant to show the world what God is. God is love.
Have a blessed week everyone.