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Marriage
is a supreme sharing of experience, and an
adventure in the most intimate of human
relationships. It is the joyous union of two
people whose comradeship and mutual
understanding have flowered in romance. Today
___________ and__________ proclaim their love
and commitment to the world, and we gather
here to rejoice, with and for them, in the new
life they now undertake together.
The
joy we feel now is a solemn joy, because the
act of marriage has many consequences, both
social and personal. Marriage requires "love,"
a word we often use with vagueness and
sentimentality. We may assume that love is
some rare and mystical event, when in fact it
is our natural state of being.
So
what do we mean by love? When we love, we see
things other people do not see. We see beneath
the surface, to the qualities which make our
beloved special and unique. To see with loving
eyes, is to know inner beauty. And to be loved
is to be seen, and known, as we are known to
no other. One who loves us, gives us a unique
gift: a piece of ourselves, but a piece that
only they could give us.
We who
love, can look at each other's life and say,
"I touched his life," or, "I touched her
life," just as an artist might say, "I touched
this canvas." "Those brushstrokes in the comer
of this magnificent mural, those are mine. I
was a part of this life, and it is a part of
me." Marriage is to belong to each other
through a unique and diverse collaboration,
like two threads crossing in different
directions, yet weaving one tapestry
together.
The secret of love and marriage is similar to
that of religion itself. It is the emergence
of the larger self. It is the finding of one's
life by losing it. Such is the privilege of
husband and wife - to be each himself, herself
and yet another; to face the world strong,
with the courage of two.
To make this relationship work, therefore,
takes more than love. It takes trust, to know
in your hearts that you want only the best for
each other. It takes dedication, to stay open
to one another, to learn and grow, even when
it is difficult to do so. And it takes faith,
to go forward together without knowing what
the future holds for you both. While love is
our natural state of being, these other
qualities are not as easy to come by. They are
not a destination, but a journey.
The true art of married life is in this an
inner spiritual journey. It is a mutual
enrichment, a give and take between two
personalities, a mingling of two endowments
which diminishes neither, but enhances both. |
