An Icon of Christ's love for the Church

[Cure of Ars]

Click Here for Picture

This is a picture of one of the happiest days of my life. It’s the day I married my wife and made an oath to her, the Church, and to Jesus that I would be faithful to her and be willing to lay down my life for her. Our marriage is not perfect but it is still beautiful and it is an image of the love that Jesus has for the Church. Here is the concept in the Bible:

Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So (also) husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body....This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church.(Eph 5:25-32)

For Catholics marriage is a sacrament. It is a sign and instrument - of God's own life.

Here is a prayer that my wife and I made when we went to an engagement encounter.

God of Love
We thank you for the life you give use.
We thank you for the love you show us.
We give praise to you because your love conquers all.

God of Mercy
We ask that you bestow your grace
upon our marriage so that we may fulfill our vocation.
We ask you, oh Lord, to make our lives fruitful.
We ask this in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen

I love you Melissa

 

[lovely]

Cure,

I completely agree with what you said concerning marriage, and it being a picture of Christ and His church. It is so beautiful, and so was the wedding photo of you, and your lovely wife. Thank you for the reminder, praise God.

The Lord bless the both of you, and may your marriage reflect that beautiful covenant the church has with it's bridegroom for many more years to come.

lovely

 

[stovebolts]

It has been said that a picture tells a thousand words and a persons eyes tell all.
What I see, is a man who loves, and is in love with his wife and a wife that cherishes her husband.

May you both continue to glorify God.

Jeff

 

[Vic C.]

Thanks for sharing. Marriage is indeed sacred. Too bad many don't treat it as such. :-?

 

[Relic]

.

Vic,

You make an excellent point. There have been too many people who just don't respect the Word, and as a result their marriage crumbles. Literally, they don't respect "the true meaning of words" and they loose sight of how actions play out in consequences. They live too much on impulse instead of discipline of the spirit.

The integrity of a person is proven by their "True" Commitment to their word, how well they take a stand on the word. It is the fool who refused to let their ill-behavior be corrected for righteousness sake.

We must never take the word "commitment" for granted.

We must never take our commitment to God for granted.

God blesses those who follow Him.

Psalm 18:20-26 comes to mind:
20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me.
23 I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.
24 Therefore hath the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.
25 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;
26 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.



Cure of Ars,

What a lovely photo. Thanks for sharing those words of love and commitment.

.

 

[Cure of Ars]

Thanks for the kind words and prayers.

If anyone else wants to show your wedding pictures or pictures of you and your spouse I think that would be cool. I like Icon's of Christ's love for the Church.