My husband and I selected this Gospel passage for our wedding Mass, celebrated on July 19, 2024. As newlyweds, we continue to carefully tend to the foundation on which we build the house of our marriage. Personally, the “winds blew and buffeted the house” (Matthew 7:25) accurately describes my experience of the last few months. Immediately following our wedding and honeymoon, I moved over 100 miles away from my previous home to be with my husband, and then began a wonderful new job as a result. Everything around me has changed, every fiber of my being has been challenged, everything I own has been boxed up and scattered.
In this parable, Jesus teaches us that the house “did not collapse; it had been set solidly on rock” (Matthew 7:25). My sense of self may have been tested, and has changed, due to stepping into my vocation, yet my trust in the Lord’s providence has been forged in the fire. I have been forced to simply sit in His steadfast love. I sit quietly, but never alone. My relationship with Christ was never supposed to be about the beloved parish I left behind or a feeling of “achievement” to post pictures with the big white dress online. Instead, my relationship with Christ ought to be an overwhelming response to His sacrifice and redemption. I, like most people, need this daily reminder more than I would like to admit.
With the same hopeful spirit with which we approached the altar at our wedding Mass, my husband and I sit down to dinner each night and light the first candle of our Advent wreath. It is a moment of peace among storms as we build a new life together on the Rock. This seemingly simple action is the first of many traditions to come as we prepare for our first Christmas in our new home and joyfully anticipate celebrating this feast together for the first time as a married couple. We dream of the laughter, love, and Light of Christ that will enliven our table in New Jersey preparing us to be guests at the Heavenly Banquet.
