Spouses should help each other stay on righteous path
Recently I was speaking with a gentleman, married many years, who said he remembered the minister’s sermon at his wedding.
How striking that he would remember his wedding sermon in the midst of all that would be going on leading up to, during and following that ceremony. But, indeed it seemed burned into his memory.
The gentleman remembered the minister saying that the No. 1 job, role, goal and purpose of a husband and wife was to lead each other to heaven. Now there are many ways to state the role and purpose of marriage -- to have and to raise children, to offer companionship and comfort to your partner.
But, on reflection, it is no wonder the gentleman was struck by the sermon. Isn’t that’s the bottom line: The final gift of husband and wife is to help guide their companion safely into the hands of their heavenly Father?
Some might object and say that each person is responsible for their own immortal soul. That each person, standing alone, will have to give an account to God. This is no doubt true.
However, the one who shares your bed, your home and your life is also your soul mate. Your spirits will be shaped by your common reaction to the joys and sufferings of life. And your reactions, in turn, will be tempered by the faith -- or lack thereof -- of your spouse. As you become a couple you will begin to share the same vision, outlook and general disposition about religion, politics and where to take your vacations.
In the end, you will appear alone before God. But there is one who definitively shaped, for better or for worse, that person standing before God: your spouse.
Tammy Wynette sang “Stand by Your Man.” There is no doubt that the support of one’s spouse enables a person to run for president, coach a football team or break the glass ceiling. But thanks to their spouse, whatever heights a man or woman ascends to in life, in the end, heaven is the goal.
Winning the presidency, the national championship or becoming the first female CEO, and yet failing to reach heaven, makes it all a tarnished trophy. The reason for our being here in the first place is to enjoy the light of God’s face forever.
Obviously sharing and practicing a common faith is a means of spouses leading each other to their final goal. Along the way to the final end there may be many other objectives: Being debt free, owning your home, raising a family, having a comfortable and interesting retirement, to name but a few.
Christians cherish the belief that when our time on earth has run its course, we shall join those who have gone before us. Besides the blissful joy of being in God’s presence, what a great prize to share that eternal vision with those who meant the most to us on our earthly pilgrimage!
What an unimaginable joy to share the light of God’s face with the one person most responsible for you being there -- your husband or your wife!
The Rev. Fred Nijem is pastor at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Warner Robins.