Magic that binds a couple together

As the song goes, we have to believe in magic. Why? Because it is magic when two people fall in love. It is magic when a man and a woman are strongly in love with each other.

Love is crucial in every relationship that we have. Without love our relationship is meaningless. I usually tell young people that love for each other should not be based on feelings, on emotions or even on one’s intellect. Love should be from within, love being the greatest of all. Cast out all fears.

In the New Testament, the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians discusses love. Paul describes love as a way of relating to others, and not just as an emotion. He also lists characteristics of love, such as patience, kindness and humility.

What does Paul say about love in 1 Corinthians 13?

Love is patient, kind and humble. Love does not envy, boast, or seek its own interests.

Love is not easily angered, resentful, or quick tempered. Love does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. Love never ends.

Paul wanted to correct the Corinthians’ community and teach them how to treat each other. He wanted to remind the Corinthians that love is the greatest gift of all, and that their spiritual gifts are meaningless without it.

When we feel something lacking in our family life, in our relationships, we need God at the center of the relationships. Spouses need Jesus and Mary when their dreams are gone, their mutual love seems to have dried up, the relationship has become boring, and raising the children has become a burden draining all their energy.

The awareness of the presence of Jesus and Mary in the family encourages parents and their children to create an atmosphere of prayer, Bible reading, mutual love and respect, with a spirit of forgiveness and sacrificial service at home. This change refreshes and renovates family life, removing its boredom.

At a wedding in Cana, Jesus revealed His Divine power by transforming water into wine. The Bible begins with one wedding, that of Adam and Eve in the Garden (Gn 2:23-24), and ends with another, the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rv 19:9, 21:9, 22:17). At Cana, Jesus also blessed human marriage, perhaps at that moment instituting the Sacrament of Matrimony. Throughout the Bible, marriage is the symbol of the Covenant between God and His chosen people. God is the faithful Bridegroom and humanity is His beloved bride.

We see this theme beautifully presented in today’s first reading, where Isaiah uses the metaphor of spousal love to describe God’s love for Israel. God’s fidelity to his people is compared to a husband’s fidelity to his wife.

Isaiah predicts God’s salvation of Jerusalem after the return of the Babylonian exiles and visualizes it as a wedding between God and Jerusalem. Jesus’ provision of abundant wine for the wedding feast in Cana signifies that the day foreseen by Isaiah has arrived. Anticipating the joy of a wedding, the Psalmist urges us in the Psalm (Ps 96), “Sing to the Lord a New Song.”