After our youngest son left for college, my husband and I realized that it was now just the two of us, and that was boring! We had lost interest in each other as far as a husband and wife were concerned, and we just didn’t appreciate each other any more. We were also both becoming more involved with our personal lives and other interests.
I initially had been reluctant to attend anything done by the Unification Church. My husband, on the other hand, had been more involved with traveling and speaking for the American Clergy Leadership Conference (ACLC), an integral part of the Unification Church.
Through our connections with ACLC, which consists of clergy from all religious denominations and backgrounds, we met Archbishop Milingo, a prominent priest in the Catholic Church, and Archbishop Stallings, also a Catholic priest. I had heard that both of these priests were planning to attend the Marriage Blessing Ceremony with their respective wives. Not knowing the terminology of the “Blessing,” I thought these couples were simply getting married. My husband invited me to attend the Marriage Blessing Ceremony together with these couples.
At first, I was a bit confused by some things. But I went along with my husband and got out my white outfit. We were running late for the ceremony, and as I entered the room, I saw all the couples lined up and dressed up. To my surprise, I realized that I was attending a “Mass Blessing.” I just about went into a spasm! I kept trying to hide my face from the camera by putting the bridal bouquet over my face. We continued with the ceremony and I went along with everything. However, in my head I was reluctantly thinking, “I’m going to kill my husband when this is all over.”
About a week after the ceremony, I realized that my husband was acting totally different. He was telling me constantly that he loved me and how he was sorry for how he had been before. He would always hold my hand and hug me when we were alone together. He was always reassuring me that he felt different after the Blessing Ceremony and that he loved me even more. That is what changed me! I started to believe in the validity of the “Blessing.” Through seeing my husband’s actions and attitude, I began to reconsider the value of the Marriage Blessing. Later on, I became more knowledgeable of what the Marriage Blessing was all about through education, and I realized that there was indeed something powerful about it.
I came to appreciate the preparation and education that other Blessed Couples went through to reach that point. Now I try to tell others about the Marriage Blessing, and share with them that through the education and preparation, I am now proud to say that we are a Blessed Couple.
I have realized that what is profound about the Marriage Blessing is that it is not just about you and your spouse. It is about bringing God into the center of your relationship and creating a marriage that has great value and absoluteness.
The experience of receiving the Marriage Blessing with other Christian couples was very rich and pure. We both have come to acknowledge that our relationship is centered on God, and that no matter what we go through in life, good or bad, we can work anything out with God in the center. As a result, the love, sex and nurturing in our marriage is wild and crazy. We’ve realized that we can create heaven right here on earth by inviting God into our marriage through the Marriage Blessing.