Newlywed Life | The Weight of Glory

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CARISSA PLUTA

 

To please God...to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness...to be loved by God, not merely pitied, but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain.

I never imagined I would feel the gravity described by C.S Lewis in his essay “The Weight of Glory” in such a real way as I did a few weeks ago, when my husband placed that weight on my left hand after we said our vows.

We promised to love one another in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, as long as we both shall live. We followed in the self-sacrificial footsteps of Christ and offered up our very beings: our bodies and souls for the other. We vowed to always will the other’s good, in every moment of our existence on this earth. As Catholics, we know life doesn’t end in death, and we look forward to the eternal glory that awaits us in the next life.

Lewis describes Glory in two ways. The first is being known by God. The second is being united to him. We were made to love and to be loved by God. The highest good for each person on earth, the only way we can satisfy the thirst and longing of our souls, is to become the women and men God created us to be. To be perfectly united to Love, Beauty, and Goodness himself; to make it to heaven; to become saints.

This is the glory to which the vocation of marriage invites us.

But in the same way Christ’s death and resurrection were not for himself but for us, the weight of this glory was not my own. It was my husband’s. On our wedding day, the weight of my husband’s glory was joyfully laid upon my back, placed like a precious gift into my open hands. My promise to love my husband was a promise that I would help him to heaven; make him a saint.

For this reason, I pray I never get used to the feeling of my wedding band wrapped around my fourth finger or take it for granted. I pray its weight is a constant reminder, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, of the immortal soul I’ve promised to help return home.

About the Author: Carissa graduated from Franciscan University in 2014 with a degree in English and Communication Arts, and is currently pursuing her Masters. Carissa is the new wife of a Catholic missionary. She enjoys hiking, painting, and drinking copious amounts of herbal tea. Carissa has a devotion to Mary under the title of the Mystical Rose and longs to reflect God's beauty in everything she does.