My relationship with Jesus changed drastically when I learned the way Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross parallels with an ancient Jewish wedding.
When I first started reading the Broken Way by Anne Voskamp she talked about what a traditional ancient Jewish proposal looked like, and how the father of the man would pour a chalice of wine and offer it to his son who would offer it to the woman he was to marry and he would say “This cup is a new covenant in my blood which I offer to you.”
Jesus offers us a Marriage Covenant at the last supper.
Wow.
As someone who has been single for most of my life and has let that define me for a good portion of that time, this was insane for me to read.
This was when I began to see my relationship with the Lord as a romance, a RomCom, if you will.
I have always wanted to be pursued by a man and to fall in love, as most people want. I never found it with any of the guys I knew — I had a bad habit of looking for love in the wrong places for awhile and was left feeling very empty and alone. I was left believing that I wasn’t worth loving, or I wasn’t good enough for a romantic relationship. I felt like I was going to have to settle for less than what I really wanted. So to hear that the Lord offered a marriage covenant to his disciples at the last supper… no, scratch that.
To hear that He offers ME a marriage covenant at every Mass I go to — that was just so unbelievable to me.
He thought I was worthy of His love — the most perfect love.
How could He think that I was worthy? I was only an imperfect girl who found herself far away from Him more often than she would like to admit. But still, he chose me. He chose to love me.
So approaching the Triduum, this is what I am praying about. The marriage covenant offered to me at the last supper. The consummation of the marriage covenant on the cross. The salvation won for me through that gift of love.
And all the Lord asks of me is to receive that and choose to love Him in return — which is all I could have ever wanted in this life, to love and to be loved.
Mass holds a whole new meaning to me now. It’s not a place that I go because I have to, but because that’s where I intimately encounter the One I love.
As with any RomCom, there’s a little drama. I am not perfect and I find reasons to push the Lord away and to turn my back on Him, and yet he still pursues me. He’s the one who runs after me in the rain when I run away, the one who shows up at my doorstep with flowers even though I am the one at fault for whatever conflict, He's the one who loves me no matter what.
Even though I turn away, he never leaves me.
When he offered that marriage covenant, he meant that he would be there through it all.
As we go into Holy Week, I want to encourage you to pray with the Lord as the bridegroom of the Church. As YOUR bridegroom.
His death and resurrection was His marriage to the Church. It is His marriage to you. It is the moment that he gave everything he had to know you and love you, as a husband gives all that he has to His wife, all we’re asked to do is to return that love.
Let the Lord love you this holy week. Lean into your lenten fasts and let Him fill the space where those things should be. Take a little extra time in silence before the Eucharist and let Him show you the love He has for you. This is the holiest week in the year. Embrace it.
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