Meaning to Life

The ‘meaning of life’ from the Catechism of the Catholic Church states that it is “to know, love and serve the Lord in this life and to be happy with Him in the next.” So, what does this have to do with my marriage? Everything! We are here to discover what St. Augustine stated as the “deepest desire” of every human being, what is at the heart of every human relationship, and what gives each of us a deeper purpose for not only making our marriages good, but the best that they could be!  St. Augustine stated that: “The deepest desire of every human heart is to be seen and to see another in that same way.” 

Every human being desires to be loved and to be seen for whom we truly are; seen down deep, past the bodily imperfections, the bad breath, the aging spots, and such. We long for someone to see our dreams and hopes, our fears and sadness, our beliefs and values, our talents, and our humor; and to see it all and not mock us, ridicule us, laugh at us, or worse yet – reject us. We long to be seen and loved despite these. We long for someone who will walk with us on this tough life journey and who is committed to “holding us close,” especially when life gets vicious and when tragedies happen. 

We want to know that someone cares enough to see our faults and yet still loves us enough to help us in overcoming them and become something better than we could ever be on our own. That is what marriage is about: becoming something better than we could ever be on our own. One great way we can grow in knowing, loving, and serving the Lord is by knowing, loving, and serving our spouse.

ACTION STEP: This week, seek more ways to know your spouse deeper and more ways to show them love and serve them.