Reflection on June 27, 1984 – (Paragraph 3)

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“The spouses of the Song live and express themselves in an ideal or abstract world, in which it is as though the struggle of the objective forces between good and evil did not exist.” I thought about this while we were going through the Song of Songs, that it was written or that the couple was Adam and Eve before the fall. The couple was two that were able to see each other and their union in a way in which evil or sin had no taint. Tobias and their prayer are not in that world. They are in a world where they understand evil is real and powerful, as known in the deaths of her previous spouses. Although we see a sign of what this spousal union is supposed to look like in the beginning from Song of Songs, in Tobit we receive a lesson in how we are to behave in this union in a fallen world, a more practical example as opposed to the abstract of Song of Songs.

I like the image of love stepping in between good and evil. “The truth and the power of love are shown in the ability to place oneself between the forces of good and evil which are fighting in man and around him, because love is confident in the victory of good and is ready to do everything so that good may conquer.” The confidence of love in the victory of good reminds me of my reflection on the advice of Raphael. I mentioned my struggle with hope vs mercy and discussed it with a friend and he pointed to it all coming to a trust in God’s will. That seems to point us in the same direction that this image of love surrounding us and being confident in the good, because God’s will is for our good, not our woe. The evil of the world is out there, but love is there to shield us, to help us, and the source of all love is God. Seeking God, seeking Love, is going to lead you to seek His will, which will all work towards our good. Seeking and accepting God’s will, whatever that may be, is our goal and we can better achieve that by opening ourselves to Love. Maybe the confidence we see in Raphael here, or Daniel and the lions before, is just a gift of knowledge in God’s will that allowed them the grace of that confidence, whereas her father, not having that, prayed for God’s will, but was focused on God’s mercy because of his lack of supernatural foresight.

The union of husband and wife speaks to the world, which is the language of the body. A marriage lived according to God’s will speaks the language of love, this is the prophesy we have seen before. And love is the force that stands against evil with confidence in victory. We are called to live our marriage vocation with that confidence of the victory of good. How do we live out that loving marriage? Where is this language of the body spoken? Our children see it, our families, friends, the parish. This is where we prophesy love, this is where we need to speak this true marriage, God’s language of the body, God’s language of love, to the world with confidence in the victory of good. We are called to live our marriage with the confidence of Raphael and have no fear.