Having just celebrated All Saints we now move into November, a month incorporating All Souls, Christ the King and, remembering our Scottish friends, St Andrews Day.
However, most significantly we have the 1st Sunday of Advent in the Church’s new liturgical Year (Year C). In the scripture readings from that Sunday, we hear three important messages for us as couples; inspirational texts which we could take as the template for our relationship into 2022.
First, there’s Jeremiah’s joyful anticipation of Our Lord’s coming (33:14-16). Let his JOY remind us of the months and weeks before our wedding. Leaving aside the organisational stresses, this was a time when we were so aware of our love for one another and when nothing mattered except the fact that we were going to share the rest of our lives together and, please God, bring up a loving family.
Then, there is St Paul’s exhortation (Thessalonians 3:12): ‘may the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else’. This reminds us that our relationship is never static and is purposeful. We have the choice to grow closer every day, to express our love in service to one another and beyond. This requires us to be ‘PRESENT’ through attentive listening and seeking to know each other better. We can choose to love more deeply, to reach out and ask for forgiveness more readily when we’ve hurt each other. In this way, the hope we felt before and on our wedding day, and many times since, will become even stronger, overflowing to all those we meet and care for. Our vocation and Sacrament is after all meant to be missionary.
Finally, Luke (21:34) reminds us to ‘Watch ourselves or our hearts will be weighed down with the cares of life’. When we let the cares and difficulties in life weigh us down, so easy in these testing times of Covid, we can become short and irritable with each other. If/when this happens, let it be a reminder/encouragement to FOCUS more on, and affirm, each other’s special qualities and gifts. Don’t let irritation and worries become more important than the love we are continuing to develop and grow!
This blog was written by Brian and Maureen Devine from Two in one flesh, they are part of the Alliance of Catholic Marriage Organisations. For more information on the alliance please visit:
www.allianceofcatholicmarriageorganisations.org.uk
