Return to Wedding Prayers and Scriptures in Trying Times
Lauri Przybysz, MS Ed

Though you got married on a particular date and in a particular location, you and your beloved are still becoming married. Your sacrament is unfolding as time goes on, becoming a sign of God’s faithful love in all life’s ups and downs. Times of change and transition are teachable moments. It may be a happy change, like the coming of a new child or grandchild or starting a new job; or a crisis, like the onset of illness or a tragic loss. Married couples can look back on another time of transition – their wedding day – for wisdom that faith has to offer.

No matter how long you have been married, you may find blessing in reflecting on the prayers and readings of a wedding liturgy. You may recall exactly the chapters and verses of your wedding Bible readings, or those details may be lost in the mists of time. If you were wed after the liturgical reforms of Vatican II, you were urged to design a ceremony that comes from your hearts. You were invited to choose readings that fit your situations and future hopes and from a standard group of Scripture selections. If you have been married more than 30 years or so, your ceremony would have been like any other American couple’s. A list of selected wedding Scripture citations is provided to the right. Reading a few together could be a fruitful and loving prayer exercise.

While there are many readings to choose from now, they have common themes. The Old Testament readings teach that human beings have a noble purpose in life. While a few readings suggested for weddings reflect patriarchal attitudes of other cultures, taken together the texts show the equal dignity of the sexes. Many of the current choices reflect the mutuality, friendship and partnership the Church encourages today. The New Testament texts address the couple as individual disciples as well as spouses. In these readings, married love is a prophetic sign of the kingdom of God, depicted as a joyous wedding feast.

Beautiful and encouraging prayers were offered for you on your wedding day. (If you would like to look at the prayers again, try Together for Life by Father Joseph Champlin from Ave Maria Press. This popular resource booklet, containing all of the possible prayer and Scripture alternatives and excellent commentaries, may be available from your parish office or from the publisher. In the Wedding Prayers, the couple meets the Creator of the Universe, who invites them to be God’s ambassadors, “a holy mystery, a symbol of Christ’s love for his Church. The prayers enlist the couple in a vocation of service to the community. By welcoming children, creating a home, forgiving hurts, and honoring one another, the couple will mirror God’s faithful love.

Scripture and the liturgy of the Church remind us of the importance of marriage throughout salvation history, the beauty of marital passion, and the value of family connections. Marriage challenges couples, and all who pray with them at their wedding, to reflect the potent life and love of the One in whose image they are made.