Last week, my wife and I celebrated our three-year wedding anniversary!
Witnesses to Love and Commitment
We are still newlyweds, so the emotions and thoughts of that day are fresh in our mind. One thing that stood out to me was how momentous it was to have our families and friends, people that have been around us most of our lives, witnessing to our love and commitment. They were there, seeing our vows, and offering prayers united in the Eucharist for us and our marriage.
It is a wonderful thing to be surrounded by witnesses when you make a commitment. The power of witness and community is what makes the communion of saints an important and beautiful aspect of our faith.
A Connection to Those in Heaven
We are the Body of Christ! In this body, there are those in heaven, those on earth, and those in purgatory.
Those in heaven are praying for our journey here on earth. They are united fully with our God. Although we can never grasp the experience of Heaven on earth, we can appreciate in awe at how little even the greatest experiences can compare to it. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church (no. 1024) states:
“Heaven is the ultimate end and fulfillment of our deepest human longings, the state of supreme, definitive happiness.”
Those in heaven are in the supreme state of love, and they are praying for us out of love. That is the Body of Christ.
Learning from the Saints
I reflect on how, at our wedding, my parents and my wife’s parents were there to see us. With both couples, it was a combined total of over 60 years of married life. They had awareness of the struggles, the joys, the pains, and the hopes that we were about to embark on.
That’s just like the saints for all of us; they are aware of our struggles in this life. That’s why it is important to read about the lives of the saints, to see that they had the same issues. Even if they lived in a different time frame, all saints were human. As St. Philip Neri said,
“Never say, ‘What great things the saints do!’ but ‘What great things God does in his saints!’”
Using Marriage to Explain Heavenly Mysteries
Marriage is seen as one of the best analogies to the heavenly mystery, the banquet of love found in full communion with God. It is in that sacrament that we commit to be holy for each other, and all the witnesses are full of joy to see this commitment expressed as the two become one. The saints are crying for joy when we seek to be closer to God! Let us continue to ask for their prayers and to seek their guidance.
All you holy saints of God, pray for us!
Daniel Quintero is a stand-up comedian currently attending Mary, Mother of the Church Catholic Parish. His favorite motto: “Awkwardness does not exist.”
Answering Christ’s call, Pilgrim Center of Hope guides people to encounter Him so as to live in hope, as pilgrims in daily life. See what’s happening & let us journey with you! Visit PilgrimCenterOfHope.org.
