Belonging to Christ invites us to grow in intimacy with him. Last week, we celebrated the Baptism of Jesus and were able to reflect on the mystery of belonging to both Christ and the Church through our own baptism. This week in the liturgy, we get to see Jesus and his disciples celebrate at a wedding.
Both baptisms and weddings are big family affairs, but what is different between the two? A baptism is focused on one child, who is coming into the Church. Weddings are often bigger and celebrate a couple. The couple is so happy that they want everyone to share in their joy. In fact, one of the struggles I notice with couples getting married is figuring out the guest list. The question of, “whom do we invite?”, enters into tension with “how many people can we afford to invite?”
Joy of a Wedding
When we witness a wedding, we participate in a special event. In a similar way, being present at a baptism inspires joy at the sense of introducing a new child into the circle of people who belong to the same family. A wedding inspires deeper joy because we bear witness to a deeper level of relationship, founded on another word: intimacy. The public ministry of Jesus in the Gospel of John begins with a wedding feast. In fact, all of salvation history begins and ends with wedding feasts. If we go all the way back to Genesis, we see the marriage of Adam and Eve that sets the stage for everything that will come after. If we jump to the end of the Bible, to the Book of Revelation, we see the Marriage of the Lamb, a mystical representation of the Eucharistic feast and the eschatological reality of the Church in Heaven.
Intimacy with Christ
Even more than belonging to Christ, we are called to intimacy with him. As a sign of appreciation for the intimacy in marriage, Jesus takes his disciples to a wedding feast. He probably knew the family of the bride and/or groom, and would have found it important to join in their family celebration. Too often, we try to relegate God to certain corners of our lives, hoping that he does not try to get mixed up in the rest of it. However, it is always good to let God into every aspect of our lives. Weddings are so prominent in the Bible because the marriage covenant serves as a great analogy for the covenant of love that God establishes with his Church, a covenant which he invites each one of us to live out in a particular way.
Power of a Proposal
One of the best questions you can ask an engaged or newly married couple is the story of the proposal. Why do we make such a big deal out of the proposal? It has to do with the tremendous human need that is expressed there. We all want to love and to be loved. We all desire the experience of intimacy. The proposal is the moment when we find out where exactly we stand with the person we love. Our relationship to God mirrors marriage, as made evident in today’s first reading.
The prophet Isaiah proclaims: “as a young man marries a virgin, your Builder shall marry you” (Is. 62:5). When the prophet Isaiah makes an analogy between marriage and our relationship with God, he is speaking about the deep love that God has for each one of us. God constantly proposes to us, through his grace and the sacraments. It is up to us to say “yes.”

Saying “Yes”
How do we answer God’s proposal of love with a resounding “yes”? We want to make sure to receive the Eucharist, spend time in personal prayer, and regularly read Sacred Scripture. Coming together to celebrate the Eucharist, especially when we receive Jesus in communion, is one of the greatest ways of responding “yes” to God’s proposal of love. Just like human relationships need time for talking, we need to spend time daily with Christ in prayer. Set aside a daily half hour just for devoting to prayer. Finally, make sure to spend time every week studying Sacred Scripture. St. Jerome said famously that “ignorance of Sacred Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” For this reason, we need to make the Bible one of our principal sources of spiritual nourishment. For Christ, it is not enough that we simply belong to him through our baptism. He wants to make sure that we experience spiritual intimacy with him as well.
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