Marriage is no
joke
By
Fr. ROY CIMAGALA,
roycimagala@gmail.com
January 30, 2021
For fun, people nowadays
often make and trade jokes about marriage. Some of the recent ones
that managed to tickle me are the following:
- I had some words with my
wife, and she had some paragraphs with me. (Bill Clinton)
- There’s a way of
transferring funds that is even faster than electronic banking. It’s
called marriage. (Michael Jordan)
- A good wife always
forgives her husband when she’s wrong. (Barack Obama)
- When you are in love,
wonders happen. But once you get married, you wonder, what happened.
(Steve Jobs)
We obviously should not
take these jokes seriously, although many people say that they
contain some grain of truth. Well, jokes will always have some grain
of truth in them, otherwise they would not be funny. But that’s
because whatever grain of truth they have is taken out of context or
is not referred to the over-all nature and character of marriage.
The grain of truth should therefore be taken with a grain of salt.
We need to see to it that
we understand the real nature and purpose of marriage and the means
of how to live it properly. For this, we need to go to its creator
who is God and not us.
Many of the problems that
arise in marriage nowadays precisely spring from the fact the many
people nowadays do not anymore refer things to God to know their
true nature, purpose and the proper means to use and live them.
People seem to prefer to
refer marriage to their own ideas only, to their own consensus,
which even in their best condition cannot cope with all the possible
scenarios that marriage can occasion. They think that with their own
ideas and their own powers alone or with the help of others only,
they can make marriage work. With that mindset, it will just be a
matter of time before they get disappointed and contradicted.
We need to understand that
marriage is, first of all, a creation of God. It is not our own
making, our own invention. As such, we need to go to God to
understand it properly and to live it as it should be lived.
Marriage is meant for the
proper development of humanity according to the designs that God has
for mankind. It is meant for man and woman to generate love and to
keep that love going not only for themselves, but also for God and
for everybody else. In fact, it is meant to reflect the very love of
God for mankind, for the Church.
It is meant for the
establishment of a family, for the propagation of mankind, for the
proper upbringing, education and formation of children, and for the
good and welfare of the spouses and society in general.
More importantly, marriage
has to be understood as a path of sanctification and apostolate for
the persons involved. As such, it will always be involved in the
drama of human salvation. There will be light and shadows, successes
and defeats, gains and losses, good times and bad times, but in the
end, if we do our part by uniting ourselves with Christ, we will
also enjoy the victory of Christ. Christ always has the last word.
So, while we can make some
fun about marriage, let’s see to it that we fully understand that
marriage is no joke. It is a serious business about our relation
with God!