Dear Friends in Christ,
As we contemplate the beauty and vocation of marriage, let us take a moment to reflect on how spousal love mirrors Christ’s love for His Church.
The Church has never ceased to proclaim that marriage is far more than a social contract! Marriage is a sacred covenant, a reflection of Divine Love.
You may already be familiar with the timeless classic Three to Get Married by the Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen (1951).
Sheen reminds us that authentic love requires more than just mutual affection—it requires God.
He writes: “Without the Love of God, there is danger of love dying of its own; but when the Flame of Love—over and above their two individual sparks, which have come from the Flame—then there is not absorption, but communion.”
This is the communion to which every Christian marriage is called: not fusion, but unity in and through Christ.
Saint John Paul II echoes this truth in his 1994 Letter to Families. Reflecting on the Wedding at Cana, he writes:
“By describing Himself as the ‘Bridegroom,’ Jesus reveals the essence of God and confirms His immense love for mankind… Marriage, as the sacrament of the covenant between husband and wife, is a ‘great mystery,’ because it expresses the spousal love of Christ for His Church.”
In like manner, the mystery of unity and communion was recently reaffirmed by our Holy Father Pope Leo XIV in his homily for the Jubilee of Families (June 1, 2025):
“The unity for which Jesus prays is a communion grounded in the same love with which God loves, which brings life and salvation into the world… That is what we want to proclaim to the world: we are here in order to be ‘one,’ in our families and in the places where we live, work, and study. Different, yet one; many, yet one.”
And, in his closing exhortation, Pope Leo XIV reminds us:
“Marriage is not an ideal but the measure of true love between a man and a woman: a love that is total, faithful, and fruitful (cf. Humanae Vitae, 9). This love makes you one flesh and enables you, in the image of God, to bestow the gift of life.”
As a result, this is precisely what we offer to engaged couples through our program at Agapè Catholic Marriage Prep: a path to discover, reflect on, and live out this call to divine Love and holy Unity.
May these excerpts inspire you to revisit these profound texts and renew your own understanding of the sacrament of Matrimony.
With every blessing,
Christian Meert and The Agapè Catholic Marriage Prep Team
