Makers of so many families

Megan, my colleague at Charis Ministries shared this  excerpt of a speech by Archbishop Oscar Romero from October 7, 1979.  This was read at their wedding several years ago.  I find it very moving, and I feel it calls Chris and me to another level of our marriage

“I call on all of you,

makers of so many families,

builders of so many homes…

Let no family isolate itself from society as a whole

because it is itself well off.

No one marries just so the two of them can be happy;

marriage has a great social function.

It must be the torch that lights up the way

to new liberations for other marriages around it.

From the home must come the man or woman

able to promote the changes needed

in politics, in society, in the ways of justice…

Loving is what the family is all about,

and loving means giving oneself,

surrendering oneself to the well-being of all

and working for the common happiness.”