And The Two Shall Become One

Just reading that title scares people today. Yet, the basic truth of love – which is the basis of marriage – remains the same. We all seek out love. It is woven in our humanity…in our design. And we seek out a certain kind of love…one that is forever. Not because the Church says so….but because that is what we dream about…that is the stuff love songs are about.

Let’s face it, if we set up a love that has “outs” then we are never really all in, right? We reserve some portion of ourselves, always ready to flee, always self-protecting. Marriage, however, coincides with what is written in our hearts, that we want an everlasting love. It is completely human…it is who we humans are. We want a lover who will love us forever, through the good and the bad.

In Paris you may recall the bridge where people bought metal locks and secured them on the bridge symbolizing their forever love. This is an example of how we humans really believe in everlasting love. There were so many tons of weight in locks that the locks were compromising the structure of the bridge and had to be taken down. But these locks keep showing up on the other bridges.

Marriage, an institution that existed before the government ever sanctioned it, is about everlasting love. To erase that, to compromise it, is to compromise what is written in every human heart. We are allowing that to happen, however. We are allowing the culture to change what we all universally long for, a love that lasts forever.

Marriage has to be seen again for what it is and what it has truly always been – a permanent commitment – a love everlasting – that stands the test of time precisely because we humans understand what love really is and what it is not. The first place to start is by reading what God tells us marriage really is. Go back to Genesis. God made them male and female. And the two shall become one….and then read the gospels and St. Paul.

And then read what the Church teaches us in the Catechism. Once you have done that, think about your own marriage. I bet you will realize the gift it is. I bet you will sense a stirring in your heart to love in a deeper more meaningful way. I bet you will once again feel that urge, that natural urge, written in every human heart, that desires a love everlasting.