English
EspañolUnited spouses are not so due to them being perfect. This unity occurs because, whatever happens to them, they take advantage of it, together, to preserve their union, make it grow, or repair it from routines, tiredness, and wounds. This is the meaning of loving each other realistically every day. With time, you grow in this art and wisdom. The rest are delusions product of intoxication.
Text
“Yet in joining their lives, the spouses assume an active and creative role in a lifelong project (…) neither spouse can expect the other to be perfect.” (The Joy of Love, n.218)
Commentary
The marital union is based on a free and voluntary decision – consent – on the wedding day.
They arrive at this commitment as they are: no one is perfect—each one with their virtues and defects, with their limitations, inexperiences, and a particular selfish malice, but also with the joint will to help and love each other constantly. With the will to keep their union alive, make it grow and deepen, and heal it from wounds, tiredness, and routines. To care for that union, which is the great patrimony and wealth of the spouses.
When and where does this take place? In what everyday life brings, harvesting the ability to be present in those moments and living in unity. We do not achieve this union by being all-around perfect, rather by being loyal, faithful, and sincere to one another. And by correcting each other, apologizing, not humiliating or despising, not dominating or submitting, respecting each other a lot, lending a hand, and lifting each other. In this manner, we grow in intimate trust and give each other deep companionship. For we are not perfect, but we love one another very much.
