No Greater Love

(John 15: 12-13) “This is my commandment: love one another as I love you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

Marriage is such a great gift to us from God. Through this Sacrament, designed by the Lord, we have the privilege of not only becoming one with another person, but also being able to share a lifetime of support, love, and service. We get the opportunity to share our heart with another person and to see into the depths of their heart.

In addition, as it confirms in John 15 above, we also have the opportunity to experience the greatest form of love through our marriage, because in marriage we are called to “lay down our life” for our spouse through a lifetime of sacrifice and service. We do this through how we care for each other in times of need. We do this through our openness to having and raising children. We do this through working through our differences and through managing and overcoming our concupiscence together. We have so many occasions throughout our life together to grow in this Godly love, but only when we fight against our selfish desires and always seek the good of our spouse.

The beauty is that we don’t have to do this alone. God promises graces to us, through our sacramental union, to strengthen us and to guide us in this mission. As we serve each other in marriage, we have the opportunity to grow in love and compassion, and experience a foretaste of the “heavenly wedding feast” (CCC 1642). As St. Mother Theresa once said, “A life not lived for others is not a life.”  

ACTION STEP: This week, thank God for the opportunities he gives you in marriage to practice a greater form of love.