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where all the others culminate. Only the touch of the Spirit can inspire a song like this, and only personal experience can unfold its meaning. Let those who are versed in the mystery revel in it; let all others burn with desire rather to attain to this experience than merely to learn about it. For it is a melody that resounds abroad by the very music of the heart, not a trilling on the lips but an inward pulsing of delight, a harmony not of voices but of wills. It is a tune you will not hear in the streets, these notes do not sound where crowds assemble; only the singer hears it and the one to whom he sings-the lover and the beloved. It is preeminently a marriage song..."

God is Love. Understand, this is far more than a clever metaphor or offhand description of His personality. Rather it speaks to the central nature of the divine. It is in this image we are create and it is this image we are called to incarnate together. Few things in life better reflect this most beautiful of divine Loves than the sacrament of marriage. It is the sacred rite of marraige that celebrates the the spark of this love.

It is clearly the wisdom and longing of God reflected in the words of the Song of Songs. He did not simply articulate His ideas or ideals about love. He did not lay out mere noble affection or moral submission. Neither did He posit a love that simply called for solidarity, respect and mutual care. No. Rather, He chose to describe His love with the longing, passion and, yes, even sensuality of a Lover to His Beloved.

To all who are married or seek to be married, as you seek to discover the harmony in this song of love in your new lives together, pray that you will find your rhythm in the divine melody of God's love for His Beloved.

And so, in this way, the bride and groom take the hand of the other. They consider the hands of their beloved. It is with these hands that they will provide for each other and for those they love. It is with these hands that they will provide comfort in times of sadness and fear. Above all, it is with these hands that they will share the gentle affection and passionate touch of lovers. Their hands are forever an icon of God's hand which created them in His image from the dust and who lowered Himself to become Man as a hope for us all. Their hands are bound together reflect the eternal celebration of the divine breath which give us life.

Wrapping the hands of the bride and groom, we display in the flesh that which God has already begun in the heart. They will live out their lives in the sacramental union of marriage, cleaving to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The wedding ceremony allows us to stand before God and a gathering of loved ones, to proclaim the union that has begun, Lover and Beloved, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, both now and ever and unto ages of ages. And upon the marriage, we pray a blessing:

"May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the passion of your love, in spirit and in body, reflect the passionate love of Christ for His Bride. May you be slow to anger and quick to forgive, ever mindful of the divine romance into which you have more fully entered this day. All this we ask in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit."

Amen

Learn more about this author, Jamie Arpin-Ricci.
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