April
29, 2011
The television audience of the wedding
ceremony of Prince William and Catherine Middleton was estimated to number two
billion people! I was not among that number, but I encourage you to read the
following from the transcript of the ceremony, as these authoritative words
bring hope.
The Very Reverend Dr. John Hall, Dean of Westminster
Abbey: Dearly beloved, we are gathered
here in the sight of God and in the face of this congregation to join together
this man and this woman in holy matrimony, which is an honorable estate
instituted of God himself signifying unto us the mystical union that is betwixt
Christ and his Church, which holy estate Christ adorned and
beautified with his presence and first miracle as he wrought in Cana of Galilee
and is commended in holy writ to be honorable among all men, and therefore is
not by any to be enterprised nor taken in hand unadvisedly, lightly or wantonly,
but reverently, discreetly, soberly and in the fear of God duly considering the
causes for which matrimony was ordained.
First, it was ordained for the increase of mankind,
according to the will of God and that children might be brought up in the fear
and nurture of the Lord and to the praise of his holy name.
Secondly, it
was ordained in order that the natural instincts and affections implanted by God
should be hallowed and directed aright, that those who are called of God to this
holy estate should continue therein in pureness of living.
Thirdly, it
was ordained for the mutual society help and comfort that the one ought to have
for the other, both in prosperity and adversity, into which holy estate these
two persons present come now to be joined.
James Middleton,
Catherine Middleton’s brother: Reads Romans 12:1-2,
9-18
DR. RICHARD CHARTRES, LORD BISHOP
OF LONDON: Be who God meant you to be, and you will set the world on fire.
So said Saint Catherine of Siena whose festival day it is today. Marriage is
intended to be a way in which man and woman help each other to become what God
meant each one to be: their deepest and their truest selves.
Many people are fearful at the prospects for our
world, but the message of the celebrations in this country and far beyond its
shores is the right one. This is a joyful day. It is good that people in every
continent are able to share in these celebrations. Because this is, as every
wedding day should be, a day of hope.
(From Ron Prentice, California Family Minute)
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