About Love and Marriage
May 12, 2010
About Love and Marriage 1
Happiness in marriage is not something that just happens.
- A good marriage must be created.
- In marriage the “little” things are the big things.
- It is never being too old to hold hands.
- It is remembering to say, ”I love you” at least once a day.
- It is never going to sleep angry.
- It is standing together and facing the world.
- It is speaking words of appreciation, and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
- It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
- It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.
- It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.
- It is not only marrying the right person — it is being the right partner
About Love and Marriage 2
BRIDE and GROOM, this celebration is the outward token of your sacred and inward union of hearts. It is a union created by your loving purpose and kept by your abiding will. It is in this spirit and for this purpose that you have come here to be joined together.
About Love and Marriage 3
I asked you to join hands as a symbol of the union that you are making here today. I’d like you to think about the hands that you are holding.
These are the hands of your best friend
Holding your hands on your wedding day
Promising to love you and to work together as you build your future together.
These are the hands that will give you
Strength when you need strength
Tenderness when you need tenderness
And love when you need love.
These are the hands that will countless times wipe the tears from your eyes
Tears of sorrow
But also tears of joy.
These are the hands that will hold all those whom you love.
These are the hands that years from now will still be searching for your hands,
Still seeking the love, encouragement and support
That each of you seeks from the other.
About Love and Marriage 4
So, as important as this ceremony is, the foundation of your marriage was formed long before we ever came here today, and that is the love that you share.
Love is gentleness
Love is kindness
Love understands and love forgives.
It is loyal through good and bad
Love hopes for the future
Love is everlasting.
Love makes up for things that you may not have.
Without love, no matter what you do have it is never enough.
So, search for love.
Share your love.
But most of all,
Enjoy your love.
About Love and Marriage 5
Most would agree that it is love that keeps people together when they’re confronted with that immense sky, with those infinite distances that separate even the closest of men and women. But what kind of love?
Poets, priests and philosophers, and no small number of cabbies, barbers and bartenders have debated this question. We speak of spiritual love, passionate love, love eternal… but the phrase that may capture the reality of this emotion best is “stirring the oatmeal” love. When you’re willing to stand in your bathrobe on a cold kitchen floor at 5:00 AM, and stir the oatmeal so your spouse can have a little more sleep—and not even think twice about why you’re doing it—then you have a love that can last a lifetime. As Carl Jung once wrote, “feeling is a matter of the small.”
Such simple, pragmatic experiences are the best places for love to take root. In such ground, love blossoms over time, becoming deeper, more beautiful, and more profound.
Love so deep, intimacy so profound, cannot help but suggest transcendence, a shifting of human experience into the realm of the spiritual. This is what makes marriage a unique milestone in any relationship. BRIDE and GROOM have been together for ______ years. They seem as close as any two people can be. Yet they felt the need for something more: a rite of passage.
We define marriage as a sacrament, something that is itself defined as “a rite ordained as an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.” An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace. That is why we are here: to witness this visible sign. These words, these actions—they are the manifestation of that inward grace. In this way, a marriage is like a mirror. It lets us look into depths that cannot be seen directly, and reflects the spirit of the two being joined as one.
About Love and Marriage 6
Your marriage is the coming together of your two souls for the purpose of manifesting your hearts’ desires and the truth of your being with one another. Marriage will bring to you all of the unlimited possibilities of consciously choosing to become all that you desire, giving you the opportunity to become your highest vision of your Self. This path is not only incredibly challenging but very rewarding as well; it brings to each of you the choices that you want to have for your own growth as well as the wonderful moments of diving blessing that you yearn for in your lives.
Marriage is a path of divine humanness. It takes great courage and commitment to continue a conscious and loving union with one other. Through your commitment, the breath of human experience will be born, from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. This level of commitment to yourself and each other will open the door to receiving all that you desire, from the conscious to the unconscious. The very act of joining with each other will increase your potential for self knowledge, joy, fulfillment, peace, and growth a hundred fold because until you have fully committed to each other, the well spring of God’s gifts have only a small river in which to flow through you.
Marriage is the union of your souls, a divine process that your essence longs to experience. It is your nature, and the truth of who you are. By committing to each other, you commit to life more intimately. You no longer have the luxury of leaving when the going gets tough and the ugliness comes to the surface. Your lifelong commitment brings to you an opportunity for joy that would be unparalleled for each of you alone. The joys are that much stronger and the happiness that much richer. The wisdom is deeper and more developed, and the journey itself fuller and more beautiful.
The path of true marriage is not for the meek. It requires courage and strength, as well as an open mind and a heart filled with hope and joy. Through the mirror of each other, marriageteaches you compassion, understanding, trust, commitment, love, gentleness, and patience. Within your marriage, all things are possible; all dreams, goals, and visions are possible within your Holy Union.
Marriage denies you nothing, and only gives to you that which you truly desire. Your marriage is the coming together of friends into Union. It requires you to soften, enjoying the special qualities of your present moments. It can bring you comfort in times of need, solace when you despair, and safety when you are afraid. A lifelong, loving marriage brings to you more peace than a life filled with quietude and solitary meditation. It takes the peace of your connection with God into your relationship and into all that you say, think, and do. Because you have prayed for every gift available to you, your marriage leaves no stone unturned, enriching your lives beyond your wildest dreams, and making you greater than you ever imagined.
About Love and Marriage 7
Romance is fun, but true love is something far more and it is their desire to love each other for life and that is what we are celebrating here today.
- A good marriage must be created.
- In marriage the “little” things are the big things.
- It is never being too old to hold hands.
- It is remembering to say, ”I love you” at least once a day.
- It is never going to sleep angry.
- It is standing together and facing the world.
- It is speaking words of appreciation, and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
- It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
- It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.
- It is a common search for the good and the beautiful.
- It is not only marrying the right person — it is being the right partner
About Love and Marriage 8
To make this relationship work, therefore, takes more than love. It takes trust, to know in your hearts that you want only the best for each other. It takes dedication, to stay open to one another, to learn and grow, even when it is difficult to do so. And it takes faith, to go forward together without knowing what the future holds for you both. While love is our natural state of being, these other qualities are not as easy to come by. They are not a destination, but a journey.
The true art of married life is an inner spiritual journey. It is a mutual enrichment, a give and take between two personalities, a mingling of two endowments, which diminishes neither, but enhances both.
So it is on this Summer eve, let us rejoice yet know that we are here not just to observe but also to participate in this marriage ceremony. May we all remember that the path of love is meant to be walked together with God and with all of humanity. No persons in a love relationship can have meaning apart from their family, their friends and their community.
About Love and Marriage 9
A Little Something
Love is the greatest gift that we can offer to one another. That is what makes marriage so very special, and a cause for joy and celebration for all of us who have come here today to share in this event. It is my personal hope and prayer that those of you who have already taken the vows of marriage will witness the love of these two people, and as you listen to them share their vows, perhaps it will strengthen for you the memory of your happy day, and remind you of the meaning of the vows you yourselves once took. Perhaps it will even strengthen just a little bit the bond of love that has been growing between you, and if any of this should happen, it would certainly be the greatest gift that BRIDE and GROOM could offer all of us on their wedding day.
About Love and Marriage 10
Love is always
Patient and kind
It is never jealous
Love is never boastful
Nor conceited
It is never rude or selfish
It doesn’t take offense
It is not resentful
Love takes no pleasure
In other people’s sins
But, delights in the truth
It is always ready to excuse,
To trust, to hope
And to endure whatever comes
Benedictions
May 12, 2010
Benediction 1
Remember that your love is the basis for this marriage; desire nothing else, fear nothing else and allow your love to blossom into what love was meant to be.
Allow for spaces in your time together, giving each other room to grow. Love one another; allow that love to be a source of strength, which feeds your soul.
Fill one another’s cup, but drink each from your own. Share your bread, but have each your own slice. Sing and dance together, but remember that though you may move together, you each must dance your own steps.
None of us knows what the future will bring . . . the important thing is to live today to the fullest and face tomorrow with the certainty that you can accept and handle what it brings.
Benediction 2
May your love be one based on freedom. For though our hands may touch, it’s our hearts that hold.
When you hold love within your heart, you radiate a light, which shall brighten all the days of your life and beyond.
Everything we truly love becomes a part of us forever. So take your time with each other. Let your love’s seed grow and mature with the seasons, to provide you with warmth, serenity, joy and acceptance throughout all the years of your marriage.
Love is not a wall; it is a bridge. Love does not confine; it sets you free. It leads, as a pathway, winding, to places unknown and mysterious. With love to light the way, you can meet any challenge, together.
Benediction 3
Go into the world and fulfill your dreams. Love, support, and help one another as you grow. Seek out opportunities to be good to each other.
May the seeds of your love, now planted in marriage, continue to grow. May your life together be as a pebble dropped in a pond — an example of love and unity spread outward to your family, your friends and to the wider circle of the world.
Benediction 4
BRIDE and GROOM, you came here today, in the presence of family and friends, to express your love for, and commitment to each other. Your lives are forever changed.
Now, you can face your fears, for you each will be strength to the other.
Now, you can brave the wind, for you each will be shelter to the other.
Now, you can reap the rewards, for you each will be partner to the other.
Now though you are two bodies, there is one life before you.
And there, in that life, may you always find love.
Benediction 5
May you be blessed by God.
May you be touched by angels.
May your hearts stay full, your spirits stay connected, and may you love long and happily in one another’s arms.
Benediction 6
May every desire you have for your Holy Union be fulfilled. May you be given the mindfulness to clearly behold one another, the Truth with which to perceive each other most genuinely, and the endless generosity of spirit necessary to nourish one another’s soul and sweetly keep the promises you make here today.
May the lifelong joining of your hearts and minds continue to show you your purpose and may you always be brought most beautifully and steadfastly into the presence of yourselves and of one another living long and happily, fulfilling all that you are.
Benediction 7
Each day of your life together,
May the sun rise on new joys and new treasures
To discover with each other.
And each evening,
May it set peacefully on a world made bright and beautiful by the love you share.
Benediction 8
From this day forward, may you live together in peace; may you grow each day in understanding and compassion.
When you are apart, may you return to one another in togetherness.
May the home you establish be a place of sanctuary, where many will find a friend.
Benediction 9
This marriage is complete. Where there were two, there is now one.
Closing words are often the hardest. One never knows where one will find them. To begin, here’s a wedding toast from Africa…
“Through others, we are someone. Through this marriage, we broaden our family circle, we remember our heritage and recall those who gave us life. We call upon our ancestors, the foundations of our families, immortalized in our thoughts. We call upon our elders, whose wisdom we seek in all endeavors, our friends, whom we are blessed to have in our lives and our parents, who have guided us along the road to adulthood.
We call upon those who have passed over and could not be here today, and we call upon the bride and groom, that they may always find prosperity in love and devotion.
We ask that children bless this couple, because children give glory to a home.
“Therefore we cast a libation to the North, to the South, to the East and to the West. And we wish everyone to leave more blessed than when they came. Amen.”
To finish, a simple toast from Italy. “Evviva gli sposi,” hurray for the newlyweds!”
Benediction 10
Aware now that there is one Presence and Power, and that we are each part of that Divine unity, we now join in blessing BRIDE and GROOM as they begin their lives together. We recognize that the presence of Spirit within them enables them to fulfill the promise of true partnership in life. We know and affirm that life in joy and love.
Benediction 11
May the lifelong joining of your hearts and minds continue to show you your purpose and may you always be brought most beautifully and steadfastly into the presence of yourselves and of one another living long and happily, fulfilling all that you are.
Benediction 12
GROOM AND BRIDE I would ask that you always treat yourself and each other with respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you together today.
Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness that your marriage deserves. When frustration and difficulty assail your marriage – as they do to every relationship at one time or another – focus on what still seems right between you, not only the part that seems wrong.
This way, when clouds of trouble hide the sun in your lives and you lose sight of it for a moment, you can remember that the sun is still there. And if each of you will take responsibility for the quality of your life together, it will be marked by abundance and happiness.
Benediction 13
To make your relationship work will take love. This is the core of your marriage and why you are here today.
- It will take trust, to know, that in your hearts, you truly want what is best for each other.
- It will take dedication, to stay open to one another – and to learn and grow together.
- It will take faith, to go forward together, without knowing exactly what the future brings.
- And it will take commitment, to hold true to the journey you both have pledged to today.