Thought about marriage

[Brother Ramon]

Thought for the week: When two people find that a lifetime commitment has risen in their hearts for each other, then they are married to each other whether they have been through a wedding ritual or not. Conversely, when two people do not have such a commitment in their hearts, then they are not married whether they have been through a wedding ritual or not. The ritual and the law does not overrule the reality, and we should not talk or even think as though it does.

In the same way, a spiritual priest or brother is not celibate if his desire for sex has not fallen away, whether he has made a vow of celibacy or not. He is celibate only if he is so focused on spiritual desires that the desire for sex has fallen away by itself, without a struggle. Again, the vow of celibacy can not and does not overrule the reality.

Do not listen to mere words, they are empty sounds that disappear as soon as they are spoken. Only sense what is in the heart, and be ruled by that.

Brother Ramon