Fr. Nicolás Schwizer
The meeting of two persons in God through prayer or shared religious experience is one of the best and most profound forms for meeting one another since we are already before God with the best which each one possesses.
Before the Lord, we begin to detach ourselves from everything which normally hinders the encounter and we begin to assume – more objectively – an understanding, benign, and compassionate attitude of the love of God.
When two persons unite through the Sacrament of matrimony, a new possibility for supernatural love opens up for them: the spouse as a way towards God, as a place of encounter with God. In that solemn moment of the wedding, Christ says to each one of them: From now on, I am going to love you especially through your spouse, I am going to convert him/her into a Shrine of my encounter with you. With that I am left with the great challenge of seeking the Lord in the heart of the other where from now on He is waiting for me... of discovering the face of Christ in the face of my spouse... of embracing His love as a transparency and reflection of Divine Love. On the other hand, I should be Christ for the other... give him/her love, the light and the strength he/she needs to grow and to reach God. Thus, each one accepts himself/herself and gives himself/herself to the other as a privileged place of encounter with the Lord.
Therefore, God is there as a third person in each Christian marriage. He is a bridge and a bond of unity between the spouses. And precisely when God does not occupy that place within the marriage, then there is always room for “another” third person who destroys the marriage covenant.
Marriage is a saving community united by a supernatural attachment. The love of Christ and Mary seal our love. We are united like the vine and the vine shoots. Our salvation is united to the other and comes through the other.
My sanctity echoes in the other, and my sin does also.
This Covenant and this mutual knowledge of each other is so profound that the spouses would have to be spiritual directors to each other. They know each other so well that they can help each other on the way to sanctity.
This Covenant of Love develops among the spouses and from the spouses with God. Therefore it is a saving community... of love, life and tasks with Christ and Mary. We share their mission and together with them, we journey towards the Father God. In case the human partners fall into a crisis, the third partner sustains them. Christ sustains the marriage. After our consecration to the Virgin, She also begins to be an ally and helps us on the way. She also sustains us.
Now, what we said about marriage, that also goes for all the members of the family: parents, children, brothers and sisters... Each one is Christ for the others, a reflection and a transparency of the Lord. Each one is and should be for the other a way towards God... a privileged way of love towards God.
In that we find the meaning of the marriage Covenant and the meaning of the family Covenant: All together, united and as allies with the Virgin Mary, we journey towards God. All together, mutually loving each other as we love the Lord, we consecrate ourselves to Mary, and through her, we surrender ourselves forever to God.
Dear brothers and sisters, if we allow ourselves to be educated and guided by the Virgin Mary, then the Covenant with Her is like a great school of love. In her we learn to love in order to travel the ways of Divine Love and reach the heart of the Father. And it is in this way how the Covenant with God becomes a reality in our life.
Questions for reflection
1. Do we pray together as a marriage?
2. Do I see my spouse as a way towards God?
3. How do I receive his/her suggestions, criticisms...?