The woman who is at your side, full of emotion, wearing a wedding gown, is mine.
I created her.
I have always wanted what’s best for her; before she met you, and beyond what you can give her. I didn’t hesitate to give my life for her.
I am entrusting her to you. You will take her from my hands, and become responsible for her.
When you found her, she was beautiful, and you fell in love with her. It was my hands that formed her beauty, and my heart that filled her with tenderness and love, and my wisdom that formed her sensibility, her intelligence, and all the beautiful qualities you have discovered in her.
But you must not limit yourself to rejoicing in her charm. You must commit to responding to her needs and desires.
She needs many things: a home, clothing, tranquility, joy, affection and tenderness, pleasure and entertainment, company and dialog, social and family relationships, job satisfaction, and so many other things …
But you must realize that, above all, she will need me, and everything that helps her to encounter me: peace of heart, purity of spirit, prayer, the Word, forgiveness, hope and trust in me, and my life.
We will love her together. I have always loved her. You began to love her a few years ago, when you met her. I am the one who put love for her in your heart.
It was the best way to tell you, “Look! I’m entrusting her to you,” so you could enjoy her beauty and her virtues. When you said to her, “I promise to be faithful to you, to love you and respect you for all my life,” it’s as if you had answered me saying that you’d be happy to take her into your life and take care of her.
From that moment on, we love her together. Not only that: I’ll make you capable of loving her as I, God, love her, giving you the gift of a special kind of love that will transform your limited love as a created being and make it able to produce the works of God in the woman you love.
This is my wedding gift: it’s what is called the sacramental grace of matrimony.
I will never leave you alone in this enterprise. I will always be with you, and I will make you the instrument of my love and tenderness. I will continue to love my creation, who will become your spouse, through your gestures of love.
— by Fr. Giordano Muraro, from his book Prometto di esserti fedele sempre (“I promise to be faithful to you forever”), published by Edizioni Effata
And today we celebrate...