Greetings Prayer Warriors,
With all the noise of the culture it’s easy to lose sight of
the God’s great purpose for marriage and “wedding gifts” He bestows upon the
couple.
“The biblical Word of
God several times urges the betrothed and the married to nourish and develop their wedlock by pure conjugal love and undivided affection...This love is an eminently
human one since it is directed from one person to another through an affection of the will; it involves the good of the
whole person, and therefore can enrich the expressions of body and mind with a
unique dignity, ennobling these expressions as special ingredients and signs of
the friendship distinctive of marriage. This
love God has judged worthy of special gifts, healing, perfecting and
exalting gifts of grace and of charity.
Such love, merging the human with the
divine, leads the spouses to a free and mutual gift of themselves, a gift
providing itself by gentle affection and by deed, such love pervades the whole
of their lives: indeed by its busy generosity it grows better and grows
greater. Therefore it far excels mere erotic inclination, which, selfishly
pursued, soon enough fades wretchedly away.” * (emphasis added)
Tobiah
rose from bed and said to his wife, “My sister, come, let us pray and beg our
Lord to grant us mercy and protection.” She got up, and they started to
pray and beg that they might be protected. He began with these words: “Blessed
are you, O God of our ancestors; blessed be your name forever and ever!
Let the heavens and all your creation bless you forever. You
made Adam, and you made his wife Eve to be his helper and support; and from
these two the human race has come. You said, ‘It is not good for the man to be
alone; let us make him a helper like himself.’ Now, not with lust, but with
fidelity I take this kinswoman as my wife. Send down your mercy on me and on
her, and grant that we may grow old together. Bless us with children.” They
said together, “Amen, amen!” Tobit 4:4-8
As Tobiah did, let us praise the Lord for His goodness and pray that we are
given the gifts of the faith, hope, and love igniting in us the desire to kneel
before the Father and ask for a blessing upon our marriages.
Peace, Joy, and Love,
Janet
Say a prayer for your marriage, then someone else’s, and then pass along
the gift!
*Gaudium et Spes, no.
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