| The Living Sacrament: Marriage (continued) | |
There should be in the life of every married couple a continual building of the Sacrament. Since a sacrament brings God's Presence to us in a special way, this Presence in their Sacrament should be an ongoing living experience. They should daily place themselves in this awesome Presence by placing themselves before God in a daily encounter of love and need. |
Family life is the backbone of mankind and that life is dependent upon mutual
giving, sharing and receiving from each other. It entails the proper use
of each other's successes and failures for mutual upbuilding. The brick
and mortar stage of any building is not beautiful, but without it no permanent
building is possible. Pieces of wood and boxes of nails are a far cry from
a beautiful finished cabinet, but those pieces of wood are the cabinet -
those loose bricks, bonded together, are the building. So it is with a married
couple: everyday frustrations - grinding faults, worries and tensions, success
and failure all make up and build that beautiful edifice of family life
and living. Though all seems fruitless and without purpose; though day to
day endurance succeeds in tying us down to hum-drum living; though boredom
takes hold of our hearts with an icy hand; God's providence counts every
tear, picks up every scrap and washes away every failure. We may think all
is lost, or we have failed, but if we could see ourselves In His Eyes we
would see the wisdom of His Will. If we would cooperate with Him and try
to bring good out of every evil, we would be more aware of our soul changing,
our faith growing stronger, our hope more secure and our love deepening.
We would see the Spirit working in every facet of life, be it ever so painful. This Living Sacrament should be looked upon with a sense of devotion for each other and for the sacrament. Married couples should have recourse to the power of the Sacrament when difficulties arise. Every priest understands that his Ordination conferred upon him various powers to heal and be healed, to loose and to bind, to consecrate and to offer sacrifice. No matter what difficulties arise these powers are h is and as he becomes more and more aware of these God-given powers, his faith increases for God is working through him. He is living the Sacrament of Ordination. Everything he does increases the image of Jesus in his soul. He is God's instrument, His ambassador to the world. It is so with Matrimony. There is hidden within this everyday living Sacrament a special power. This power enables two people to live lovingly together, to bring into this world other human beings made to God's Image. As the priest, through the power of his Ordination, offers a piece of bread and says, "This is My Body," so a married couple, through the power of their Living Sacrament, look at a child, the fruit of love, and say "This is our body - this is His Temple." There should be in the life of every married couple a continual building of the Sacrament. Since a sacrament brings God's Presence to us in a special way, this Presence in their Sacrament should be an ongoing living experience. They should daily place themselves in this awesome Presence by placing themselves before God in a daily encounter of love and need. If a married couple would begin their day hand in hand and silently place themselves before His Presence, become aware of that Presence around them and within them, absorb the beautiful qualities of God that they feel in need of, ask His blessing on their new day and then make the sign of the cross on each other's forehead as a sign of anointing - that day would begin in His Love, and that love, stronger than death, would hold them up no matter what happened. |
