When I got married my mother told me that sometimes I would hear myself say something that I didn’t usually say, but that Jack usually said. “Don’t be afraid,” my mother said, It’s simply that you share some of his character, as he will share yours. You haven’t lost yourself, but you have made room for someone you love in your life.”

The New Testament contains many references to Jesus as a bridegroom to the believing church. John the Baptist, in explaining his relationship to Jesus, said, “The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is complete.” (John 3:29)

In the Old Testament God made known His desire and plan for a close and intimate relationship with the beings He had made in His own image: “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.” (Jeremiah 24:7) It is this very intimacy that happens in marriage that God seeks throughout both the Old and the New Testaments. It is a union that produces saints among ordinary people, individuals who converse with the Spirit of God in a real way. It is the delight of His heart, and His plan since creation to commune with human beings.

St. Paul’s conversion is one of the most dramatic examples of God fulfilling His ancient promise to “give them a heart to know Him.” Paul’s entire life was changed on the road to Damascus, and the change was so rewarding that in spite of almost continual hardships, Paul could joyfully assert, “He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done, but because of His own purpose and grace.” (2Timothy 1:9) His own purpose has never changed, for as the Psalmist wrote jubilantly, His love endures forever. (Psalm 136:1)

In the book of Revelations, Saint John wrote, “One of the seven angels . . . came and said to me, ‘Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. ‘” (Revelation 21:9) From the beginning, to the middle, to the end of the Bible comes the message of God’s love that yearns to communicate with us and to be loved in return. When we’re not afraid, we have only to open our hearts to make room for our bridegroom.

Love in Him,

Prue