Today The Greatest Man in the World and I are celebrating three years of wedded bliss. (It's also parent/teacher/student conference night tonight, so our celebrations won't really begin till after 7 p.m. But who wants an early dinner anyway, right?)
I don't pretend to be an expert on All Things Marriage, but I can say that after three years, it isn't what I expected -- it transcends expectations. It's also hard but rewarding work, this vocation.
The Holy Father's Angelus address from Sunday 8 October is addressed to married couples, and he puts it better than I can:
"My thought is directed to all Christian spouses: With them I thank the Lord for the gift of the sacrament of marriage, and exhort them to remain faithful to their vocation in each stage of life, "in joy and in sorrow, in health and in sickness," as they promised in the sacramental rite.
"May Christian spouses, aware of the grace received, build a family open to life and capable of facing together the numerous and complicated challenges of our time. Their testimony is particularly necessary today. Families are needed that do not let themselves be drawn by modern cultural currents inspired by hedonism and relativism, and that are willing to realize their mission in the Church and in society with generous dedication.
"In the apostolic exhortation "Familiaris Consortio," the Servant of God John Paul II wrote that the sacrament of marriage "makes Christian married couples and parents witnesses of Christ 'to the end of the earth,' as authentic 'missionaries' of love and life" (cf. No. 54). This mission is oriented both to the internal life of the family -- especially in mutual service and in the education of children -- as well as the external: the domestic community, in fact, is called to be the sign of God's love to all. The family can only fulfill this mission if it is supported by divine grace. For this reason, it is necessary to pray tirelessly and to persevere in the daily effort to keep the commitments assumed on the wedding day."
The biggest assumption I made about marriage three years ago was that it was mostly about my husband and me, and what wasn't about us was about our families and friends. That assumption's been turned on its head many times since; in fact, what our marriage is has less to do with us as individuals and more to do with what God is calling us to be in this mystery.
The priest who celebrated our wedding (God rest his soul) began the ceremony with the words "We interrupt this wedding to bring you...a miracle." And in the years since, I've realized he was right -- that this holy mystery is miraculous and a high calling, and through it, we are transformed and transforming, changed into something more than we were as individuals by His Divine Grace. I don't understand it -- I just try to live it.
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