"We walk by faith not by sight." -2 Corinthians 5:7

It does not matter that we do not know where we are going. Faith would not be Faith if it could be seen.

Original Sin

Original Sin is man's "casting of doubt in his heart on the deepest meaning of the gift" --TOB 26:4

We must not repeat this sin. We must never doubt God's love for us, we must never lose trust and hope in Him. We must avoid this sin in dealing with others, that we do not grasp or shun gifts from others because we doubt the meaning of that gift-- we must allow God to heal us that we may know and believe the deepest meaning of the gift. This healing is most especially important in marriage that two may truly become one.

Dry Spells

I once heard these words of wisdom: It is when your wife is cold that you must love her all the more.

Indeed, this goes both ways-- for marriage to work, the warmth of one spouse must make up for a lack on the other's, no matter the reason for the sputtering flame. It is through loving each other more through those difficult times that the flame will burst forth with new life. It is the same then in the marriage of the Lamb. We know that God is always pouring forth His infinite love for us, especially when we turn away does He gently woo us back. We must return this love, that when we have dry spells in our spiritual life that we make the decision to love God MORE, not less, that our flame may burn all the more brightly in time.

Complementary Beauty

Christopher West re-states Adam's exclamation upon seeing Eve for the first time: "Look, the beauty that completes me by revealing to me my beauty!"

And how true this is! It is only through interacting with man that woman can come to see her emotions as something beautiful and not a hindrance. It is through woman that man can come to see that his strength is not something of death and domination but of love and protection. It is through man that woman can see the beauty and creativity of her body, and through woman that man can see the beauty and purpose of his body. Too often in our wounded state we instead allow interactions of the opposite sex become oppositional, and in trying to grasp the other sex for ourselves try to make them become like us. How sad! It is exactly in our difference that we are so beautiful and complementary for each other.

"Christ is the head of every man, and a husband the head of his wife, and God the head of Christ"--1 Corinthians 11:3

The husband is the head of his wife, the wife is the heart of her husband-- and the body cannot live without the heart nor the head. Men tend to be logic and reason while women tend to be the compassion and emotion in the world... But it is important to note that if we look at things biologically, the head "controls" the heart in that it automatically keeps it beating-- but it has no direct voluntary control over how fast it beats, or when it beats. If you look at the heart as the emotions, the head has no control over that either. It can rationalize/ lessen/ increase input from the heart, but it does not control it and in fact is reliant on it. So when it is said that the man is the head of his wife, it does not suggest domination or place the woman on a lesser rung.

On the night of His betrayal...

With these words in the Eucharistic Liturgy, the priest reminds us that when Jesus took the cup and bread, blessed them and offered them to his disciples, He did so knowing that they would betray Him soon after. It was Himself that He offered to His Church; He did not withhold any of Himself from them even when He knew her to be unfaithful. And when He was betrayed, He chose to love her more, and gave of Himself so completely that He made His Bride white with His blood.

What love is this, that He would lay Himself in our hands and on our lips, surrender Himself so completely to us, on the very time of His betrayal! What faithful, everlasting love that surrenders self even to the one whom He knows will that very night deny Him not once, but thrice! And what does He ask in return? "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He does not seek anything but our love. He aches for our love!! And when we respond, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you!" He commands: "Feed my sheep." For true love is a fruitful love. Christ asks that we feed His sheep--His children--for we are His Bride. If we are a faithful Bride truly in love with her Bridegroom, we will be a fruitful Bride who nourishes her offspring.

Let us burn with love!

Without love, deeds--even the most brilliant--count as nothing.

--St Therese of Lisieux

The Lord alone is her leader.

The Lord has nurtured and taught her; he has guarded her as the apple of his eye. As an eagle spreads its wings to carry its young, he has born her on his shoulders. The Lord alone is her leader.
--Deuteronomy 32:10-12