English
EspañolDid you get married before God? Then do not live your marriage with your back to Jesus Christ. Open your intimacy to his presence and way of loving. Let him transform the water, the limitations of your loves, into the best wine, into wondrous love.
Text
“Sexual union, lovingly experienced and sanctified by the sacrament, is in turn a path of growth in the life of grace for the couple. It is the “nuptial mystery.” The meaning and value of their physical union is expressed in the words of consent, in which they accepted and offered themselves each to the other, in order to share their lives completely. Those words give meaning to the sexual relationship and free it from ambiguity. More generally, the common life of husband and wife, the entire network of relations that they build with their children and the world around them, will be steeped in and strengthened by the grace of the sacrament. For the sacrament of marriage flows from the incarnation and the paschal mystery, whereby God showed the fullness of his love for humanity by becoming one with us.” (The Joy of Love, n.74)
Commentary
I grew up in a family with siblings who fought and loved each other. Perhaps, at times, we fought more often than we loved. However, time has been tipping the scale in the other direction. We are six siblings with a diversity of character, ages, professions, marital status, and beliefs… a diversity which proves to be quite harmonious and enriching.
After five years of being physically distanced, we recently had a family reunion at my parents’ house. A gathering widened to include brothers-in-law, nephews, nieces, boyfriends and girlfriends. The family´s diversity has increased. With quite some pleasure, I have been able to identify that fraternal love has grown over the years, has matured, and has been extended to new members, almost by transitive property. A relationship of union that surpasses diverse interests and personal opinions while still respecting them. This is the school of freedom and peace that my parents have been able to foster.
By having siblings, I learned, from childhood and in my family, the miracle of true diversity and freedom based on respect for common equality. Siblings are the best gift that parents can give their children. The bond of fraternity is the best path to learn how to be generous, fair, and patient, to know, listen and accompany, to be willing to attend, care for and help those who –each one a unique and different person– are my equals because we share the exact loving origin.
