A Penitent Blogger
Wedding preparation
Sometimes, wedding preparations go smoothly: just one happy experience after another.
Sometimes, wedding preparations are a chaotic, stressful nightmare: a perfect storm of an anxious bride-to-be, demanding relatives, befuddled clergy, caterers and other “professionals” who are incompetent, and a groom-to-be who is… oh, no! Where did he go?
No wedding preparations, however, could ever be as terrifying as the wedding preparations described in today’s first reading (from Revelation 21 & 22): an angry dragon unleashed, dead people coming out of the ocean, the annihilation of the Earth, and people you thought had been on the invitation list ending up in a huge pool of fire.
All these things and more lead up to the climatic event: the new Holy City, the People of God, coming down out of heaven like a bride walking down the aisle to wed her betrothed, who is Christ himself.
What enables an engaged couple to survive the challenges of wedding preparation is their love for each other. They may encounter some problems, but each of them looks at the other and says, “This is the person I want to spend the rest of my life with.”
So too we as Christians – married, single, or celibate – as members of the People of God, the Church, face many challenges and problems – some of them severe – but we need to understand and deal with these challenges as being part of our preparation to be with Christ, the bridegroom of the People of God.
What enables Christians to survive the challenges of this world is our love for Christ. We encounter problems, but each of us can look to Christ and say, “This is the person I want to spend eternity with.”
And so we continue and get ready for the wedding to end all weddings: when Christ joins us to himself.
Make us ready, Lord Jesus, and make it soon.
Sometimes, wedding preparations are a chaotic, stressful nightmare: a perfect storm of an anxious bride-to-be, demanding relatives, befuddled clergy, caterers and other “professionals” who are incompetent, and a groom-to-be who is… oh, no! Where did he go?
No wedding preparations, however, could ever be as terrifying as the wedding preparations described in today’s first reading (from Revelation 21 & 22): an angry dragon unleashed, dead people coming out of the ocean, the annihilation of the Earth, and people you thought had been on the invitation list ending up in a huge pool of fire.
All these things and more lead up to the climatic event: the new Holy City, the People of God, coming down out of heaven like a bride walking down the aisle to wed her betrothed, who is Christ himself.
What enables an engaged couple to survive the challenges of wedding preparation is their love for each other. They may encounter some problems, but each of them looks at the other and says, “This is the person I want to spend the rest of my life with.”
So too we as Christians – married, single, or celibate – as members of the People of God, the Church, face many challenges and problems – some of them severe – but we need to understand and deal with these challenges as being part of our preparation to be with Christ, the bridegroom of the People of God.
What enables Christians to survive the challenges of this world is our love for Christ. We encounter problems, but each of us can look to Christ and say, “This is the person I want to spend eternity with.”
And so we continue and get ready for the wedding to end all weddings: when Christ joins us to himself.
Make us ready, Lord Jesus, and make it soon.
posted by Penitens | 4:44 PM
<< Home