When I was single, I heard that Christian marriage is all about getting your spouse to heaven. So, when Beth and I got engaged, the noble ideals of daily prayer and sacrifice for her spiritual welfare inspired me. Over time, however, I realized that the main way I help Beth get to heaven is actually this: Every day of her life, she has to deal with me!
I say this in a joking way, but there is a profound truth here. In marriage, God brings two fallen human beings together for an intense, lifelong union in which all our quirks, faults and sins come out. We inevitably misunderstand, hurt and let each other down. In marriage and family life, we have myriad opportunities to grow in humility, patience, generosity and forgiveness, and to love more completely, as Jesus did, even when he got nothing back in return.
Think about how Jesus felt on Good Friday, which is when he modeled love the most. He felt forgotten, misunderstood, alone, hurt, rejected, abandoned. If we’re honest, aren’t many of these same feelings experienced even in the best marriages?
Most of us have certain pain points in our spousal relationship. We can either view these merely as frustrating aspects of our marriage or we can see them also as divine encounter moments. We can ask Jesus how he is inviting us — through this hurt, frustration or disappointment — to take on his heart and love him in our beloved, to love more like he loves us.
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EDWARD SRI is senior vice president of apostolic outreach for FOCUS and a member of St. Thomas More Council 10205 in Littleton, Colo. He and his wife, Beth, are the authors of The Good, the Messy and the Beautiful: The Joys and Struggles of Real Married Life (Ascension Press, 2022).






