"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
As I’ve mentioned before, at the moment virtually all my friends are getting married. Over the course of life thus far I’ve been to many weddings and got to hear many different Scripture selections by different couples. Needless to say I’ve heard 1 Corinthians 13 far too often! At the most recent wedding, the subject came up and I shared what would be my own Scripture choices for my own wedding. I figured that I may as well turn it into a blog post 🙂
When it comes to navigating the status of a marriage in the eyes of the Catholic Church, it can seem rather complicated, since it depends upon the religious affiliation of each spouse and the context of the wedding ceremony. Fortunately, I came across this infographic on Facebook which nicely summarizes all the various combinations and circumstances:
…and if you were unclear about the difference between a natural and sacramental marriage…
For the last couple of months, I have been helping beta test a website which is being launched by a friend of mine. Normally, I’m the one writing the code, so it was a lot of fun having an opportunity to find the bugs in someone else’s work!
Although I’ve known people to find their spouse on CatholicMatch.com, I also know of a lot of people who have found the whole online dating experience frustrating. If this is you, you might like to try CatholicChemistry…
Click on the link above and sign up with the promo code “JMJ”, you’ll get a 6-month subscription for free. If you’re not sure how to start the conversation and get a date, you might like to try some of my favourite Catholic pick-up lines. You can thank me in your wedding toast… 😉
A while ago I wrote a short post about my friend Mike. He was Baptized at the Easter Vigil this year and I had the honour of being his Godfather. Well, the ol’ boy just chalked up another Sacrament! A couple of weeks ago he married my former neighbor, Mara.
Back when I began Restless Pilgrim I wrote a post entitled Early Church Fathers, Love & Romance and I was going to end this current post with my favourite quotation from St. John Chrysostom, but I thought instead that I’d end with a Scripture as Mike and Mara really did a superb job of choosing the Readings for the wedding. The Second Reading they chose was the same one I read for my sister at her wedding…
…I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. – Ephesians 3:14-19
I’d appreciate it if you’d say a prayer for them tonight 🙂