I will sing forever of Your Mercy, O Lord.

Through all ages my mouth will declare Your fidelity.

- Ps. 88: 1-2

It all started with a promise.

On that particular day, a young woman stopped into the adoration chapel on the grounds of the Catholic school where she taught. She had become acquainted a few years earlier with the gentleman who taught Latin and acted as the school’s bookkeeper, who had also shared all her passions, who had patiently answered all her questions, and who had impressed her with his goodness and the gentleness of his heart. She knew she could respect and trust him, and the thought of him had not left her own heart since.

There in the chapel that afternoon, she formulated her thoughts. Accustomed to being bold with God, she told Him, “I want to be his wife someday.”

From there the conversations blossomed into many others, over all sorts of topics, from the Traditional Mass to books to education to life. Each realized the other held the same values, had the same Faith, and saw life through the same lens. Yet she was too timid to take risks, too proud to accept correction, and he was too deeply convinced that the perfect woman didn’t exist for him. Nobody expected either of them to fall in love, except He who had promised it.

********************

After some years of friendship and distance, he stopped in the chapel because he was restless. He could no longer escape the fact that he loved her. He had not expected that and was not sure how to handle it.

On that day before the altar, he too formulated his thoughts. He was not accustomed to boldness with God, but she had encouraged it, and he knew he could trust her. Taking a deep breath, he asked, “May I have her? I will be good to her, I promise.”

“Take care of her. I will do what I have promised.”

All he could see were obstacles. All his expectations for life had been overthrown, all his fears threatened to keep him back, all his doubts kept ringing in his ears. Yet through all their trials, the man and woman together were learning the same thing: Love is unconditional, and it is freely given without expectations.

***********************

The time had come at last. The man was again restless as he looked at her in the chapel. This was at once the same person who had first caught his interest, but now she was even more improved. He had also changed in ways he had certainly not expected or imagined possible. Their journey together had taken them so many places, from New York to Idaho to Maryland, but it ended here where it had first begun - at the foot of the altar.

Kneeling there before her, in the presence of Him whose goodness had surpassed all their expectations, he boldly expressed his desire. “Will you marry me, before God?” And he offered the ring for her to wear as a sign of their promise.

Now all their family and friends have seen that He had willed to bring them together and had accomplished in them something marvelous which no one could have expected. God has triumphed over all the obstacles, and there remains only the completion of His work.

So on July 20th, our journey shall culminate at the foot of the altar. There God shall set His seal on the promise we exchange with each other, offering us in return His guidance and peace. And from that day forward we set forth, hand in hand, on a new journey of union with Him whose unconditional Love has fulfilled His promise to us.

“I have put my Spirit in you that you may live,

and I will settle you upon your land,

that you may know that I am the Lord.

Behold, I have promised,

and I will do it,

says the Lord of hosts.”

Ezekiel 37:14

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