Beccy Roseman from the Kenelm Youth Trust shares her reflection on how part of the role of a married person is to help their spouse get to heaven.
I remember the first time I heard the idea that part of the role of a married person is to help their spouse get to heaven – my mind was blown!
I had already been married a few years at this point and suddenly hearing about this noble calling got me really excited and gave me an entirely new perspective on my vocation. I had a role in helping my husband get to heaven? What an incredible gift and honour – I couldn’t wait to get started.
What I discovered is that we had already been living this in the ‘every day’ of married life… It wasn’t a new project to think through, and there wasn’t a special way to approach it. No. It was in the everyday loving, challenging, and journeying that we were meeting Jesus, making Him more present to those around us and participating in the great work that God invited us into; in the everyday simplicity of our marriage, we were helping to make each other more holy.
Our favourite Hollywood or Disney film can lead us to believe in easy ‘Happily Ever Afters’ – but they don’t tell the whole story. Marriage, like anything of worth in our lives, requires work, dedication, and attention to keep it healthy and flourishing. If we don’t put in the work, we can’t expect results. But when we said our vows, we were saying ‘yes’ to a vocation filled with beauty, intensity, and joy.
And we have great cheerleaders encouraging us in this amazing adventure – the Church, in her wisdom, celebrates great married saints that can pray for us as we discern the gift of marriage. Saints like St Louis and Zélie Martin and St Joachim and St Anne are in our corner, interceding for us and our vocations.
Let’s turn to these powerhouses and ask for their prayers for happy and holy marriages.
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The church offers preparation for marriage, and opportunities for sustaining and deepening the couple’s relationship through formation.
Jane Deegan offers this reflection on marriage as a sacrament.
