Supreme Court Challenge (A Satire Story)
June is the month of choice for weddings. The signal of marrying at the beginning of summer reflects that the bride and groom are at the beginning of their journey, at the height of their joy. Weddings are the zenith for romantic love.
The joy of a wedding has a lot to do with finding a life partner. As society has changed, a sentimentality has taken over the past role of the Church. Society values love based on feelings. Being in love is a terrific feeling after all, and we tend to follow our desires. Sentimentality allows a sort of decadence to overtake reason. We indulge the sweeping flood of emotions, with weddings being one more step on the staircase of self-fulfillment.
Love puts on an armor during June wedding season. There is hope marriage might last for a while, if not forever. Even the secular world stops and sighs over everlasting love.
Catholics know instinctively that marriage is a holy state. The vows attest to this. For example, the vow of “forsaking all others” guards against adultery or open marriages; the promise to love “in sickness or health” calls us to sacrifice our desires and place the spouse ahead of our own needs; our declaring this union is for “better or worse” strengthens our resolve to bear with our husband or wife not just on day one, but twenty years down the road when we see every possible flaw. The statement for “richer or poorer” reminds us to take our spouse with us when succeed in life, and to love the other in moments of disappointment.
We are called to be holy. It doesn’t matter if human beings acknowledge this or not, it is what God designed us to be. We are wounded beings through sin, and therefore reaching holiness is not easy. Marriage requires God’s presence to succeed. Without God, married people most likely won’t have a lasting union. Splintering apart is not easy. Think of a tree split in two by a lightning bolt, and then we understand what divorce involves. Avoiding the lightning bolt isn’t always possible as influences beyond our control arrive every day. The most we may control is what we vow to do. We stay with a spouse who is sick, we don’t follow that desire to find a more beautiful or exciting lover, we share our money, we accept sufferings when they come with our eyes turned to God’s kingdom. If things go wrong, then we try to infuse a stale marriage with our best effort to heal it. The vows by design infuse what may happen to us into simple professions. By saying them, we promise to be true to the person we marry regardless.
It’s no secret that the beginning of human history started with a marriage. It may be argued that sin weakened us to the point where we aren’t capable to reach that level of goodness that makes love lifelong, and yet the sacrament of marriage says the opposite. It says through marriage we obtain a high level of holiness. This ideal of lifelong companionship has its roots in the beginning of human hearts. Adam realized Eve was the finest gift he received from God. The longing to share himself with her is not an accident. There’s a longing in all of us to open ourselves to someone who will love us no matter what. It’s the way we find true happiness and purpose. Weddings are the outward expression for society that God’s plan goes on.
Yet, marriage isn’t based on emotion. While strong feelings are present in love, the real seal of the union is the will. Emotions fade and wane, their strength is not constant. What gives the wedding vows their power to change two into one flesh is the will. We will to give ourselves to the other in marriage. It’s not an emotion, but rather a decision.
God officiated at the first marriage and the entire human race was brought forth because of it. Weddings are a favorite of society because the hope of eternal life is wrapped in them. The vows call us to the will of God, and this is the zenith of human dignity.