Faith

“Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.” (Saint Augustine).

Sacrifice of Love (Leanne Bowen)

I once heard a lovely homily given by the local parish priest at the time.  He spoke about marriage.  And what he spoke about resonated with me and stayed with me all this time…

The priest spoke of the miracle of the sacrament of marriage.  After all, two people who do not know each other and are not related to each other come together.  Those two people are people who grew up in different homes and with different families. In a good marriage, those two people have some shared values, but certainly they do not have all of their values as shared values.  In a less good marriage, those people might realise over time that they do not have many shared values at all.

In any case, even if the couple know each other well over a long period of time, they really never know each other completely.  And even despite this lack of knowledge these two strangers come together and decide that they want to spend the rest of their lives together.  That means that they will share financial burdens and the responsibilities of providing for the life they live, whether they are both in paid employment or one of them is paid to work and the other contributes in other ways, possibly through domestic duties.  They will share physical burdens.  This means that if one becomes sick, the other will care for them and help them in some way.  This means that they promise to have patience with each other and understanding and to comfort each ither in difficult times.  They promise that no matter what the future may hold – and the future will certainly hold many things that they could not have anticipated – they will stay together and help each other through that.

And then they have children (in many many cases) and live their lives together and with each other.  And they have good times and bad times and times when they feel close to each other and times when they feel distant from each other.  And through all those times, the couple try their best to stay with each other.

And this is a true act of faith.  Saint Augustine said, “Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.”  It is having faith in another person, and I believe that without the Holy Spirit such a faith as that would be impossible.  And THAT is why marriage is a sacrament, and we are married inside a Church in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament and not in a park or a garden or a lovely little room (no matter how beautiful and romantic it may be).  Because, when we get married we are inviting the Holy Spirit Himself to stand between us and hold us together during all those hard times…  And that is such a wonderful miracle…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.