Roark and Lia's marriage homily

       I want to thank you all so very much for making this trip to San Diego today to help us bless this union, to watch and pray and celebrate with us as these two lovely people dedicate their lives to one another.

And thank you, Roark and Lia, for extending to me this honor, the privilege of conveying my personal blessing on your marriage in this special way.

       Roark and Lia, this day, enter into a mystery, a profound fellowship before which poet and songwriter falter in their feeble attempts to describe.  I am sure each of you treasures the memory of one great marriage, a marriage that survived and flourished on the rich loamy soils of love and disappointment, hope and despair, a marriage wherein the trials and tribulations of life only served to enrich the union, deepen the respect, and deliver the couple more deeply into that profound mystery, that holy place that great marriages enter into.

And that is my prayer for you today, that when hunger and longing break your hearts, your commitment to one another will serve to heal them again and make two hearts one. 

               It is love that sustains us.  In a letter to the Corinthians, Paul says, “If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and have all knowledge, but have not love, I am nothing.”  To those of you who gathered here, by your very presence have committed yourself to sustaining the love that brought these two together. 

          Roark and Lia do not need Waterford Crystal and Irish linen.  They need all of us, just knowing that we will be there for them, share their joys, support them in sunshine and in rain.  The rings they are about to exchange are an ancient symbol, round like arms that embrace, like the circle of love that given comes back around again and again.  

       So as Roark and Lia now join hands to dedicate their lives to one another, I would ask all of you that all of you come forward and create that circle of love around them, link your hears and hands and recommit yourselves to the love that bind s us all., that great love that passes all understanding.