You are invited to select passages and poems that best suit your hopes and goals. If you wish, you may also write your own or have a family member or friend make a special statement
The Wedding Song
Paul Stooky
He is now to be among you at the calling of your hearts
Rest assured this troubadour is acting on His part.
The union of your spirits, here, has caused Him to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name
There is Love. There is Love.A man shall leave his mother and a woman leave her home
And they shall travel on to where the two shall be as one.
As it was in the beginning is now and til the end
Woman draws her life from man and gives it back again.
And there is Love. There is Love.Well then what's to be the reason for becoming man and wife?
Is it Love that brings you here or Love that brings you life?
And if loving is the answer, then who's the giving for?
Do you believe in something that you've never seen before?
Oh there's Love, there is Love.Oh the marriage of your spirits here has caused Him to remain
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name
There is Love. There is Love
Of shared love in marriage and one best
way to show love- by Victor
Hugo
" You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving. The great acts of love are done by those who are habitually performing small acts of kindness. We pardon to the extent that we love. Love is knowing that even when you are alone, you will never be lonely again. And great happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved. Loved for ourselves. And even loved in spite of ourselves."
Love reflects love in return: The Divine Comedy by Dante
" The
love of God, Unutterable and perfect, flows into a pure soul the way light
rushes into a transparent object. The more love we receive, the more love we
shine forth; so that, as we grow clear and open, the more complete the joy of
loving is. And the more souls who resonate together, the greater the intensity
of their love for, mirror like, each soul reflects the other."
Classic Reading from "The
Prophet"
"
Love one another, but make not a bond of that love. Let it rather be like a
moving sea between the shores of your souls.
And
stand together, and yet not too near together. For even the pillars of the
temple must stand apart; and the oak tree and the cypress will not grow in each
other’s shadow.
Remember that love gives nothing but from itself. Love possesses not, nor would
it be possessed, for love is sufficient unto love.
And
think not that you can direct the course of love. For love, if it finds you
worthy, will direct your course."
Love as a challenge – causing advancement, personal evolution and a shared life quest by Rainer Rilke
" For
one human being to love another human being; this is perhaps the most difficult
task that has been entrusted to us – the ultimate task, the final test and
proof, the work for which all other work is merely preparation. Loving at first
does not mean merger, surrender and uniting with another person.
Love is
a high inducement for the individual to ripen, to become something in ourselves,
to become world in ourselves for the sake of another person. Love is a great,
demanding claim on us, something that chooses us and calls us to vast
distances."
As you travel through life together, you may find you lose your sense of priority. This is one of life’s most important of all priorities – love. By L. Brownlow
" We all
need love. With all our complexities, we are not easy creatures to satisfy. We
can not meet the conditions of a satisfied life by gorging ourselves, lying down
on the grass and staring at the clouds.
We have
deeper needs and deepest need of all is love.
Too
often we think in terms of receiving love instead of giving it. It is gratifying
to receive. But there is much for fulfillment in having a heart so filled with
love that it is more a joy in giving love than in receiving.
The need
for love is born within us, and is as universal as the human race itself. Where
ever we walk, on every shore and in every land, the need for love walks by our
side. This implanted knowledge is proof that we are akin to Go, for "God is
Love".
In is
not trite, therefore, to say that love is necessary for life, no more than to
say that food sustains life. Without food, we will die. Without love, we die a
death worse than physical death. Do not depreciate loves value. Preserve the
value of love and live as exalted creatures on the high summit of tender
affections that many will never obtain. Never forget the true value and the true
need for love."
"APACHE BLESSING":
This is often called the "Apache Blessing". If used, it is near the end of the ceremony:
"Now you will fell no rain, for each of you will the shelter for the other. Now you will feel no cold, for each of you will be the warmth to the other. Now you are two persons, but there is only one life before you. Go now to your dwelling, to enter into the days of your life together, and may your days be good and long upon the earth."
(This is often
added:) "Treat yourselves
and each other with respect, and remind yourselves often of what brought you
together. Give the highest priority to the tenderness, gentleness and kindness
that your connection deserves. When frustration, difficult and fear assail your
relationship - as they threaten all relationships at one time or another -
remember to focus on what is right between you, not only the part which seems
wrong. In this way, you can ride out the storms when clouds hide the face of the
sun in your lives - remembering that even if you lose sight of it for a moment,
the sun is still there. And if each of you takes responsibility for the quality
of your life together, it will be marked by abundance and delight."
CHEROKEE PRAYER:
"God in heaven above please protect the ones we love.
We honor all you created as we
pledge our hearts and lives together.
We honor mother-earth - and ask
for our marriage to be abundant and grow stronger through the seasons;
We honor fire - and ask that
our union be warm and glowing with love in our hearts;
We honor wind - and ask we sail
though life safe and calm as in our father's arms;
We honor water - to clean and
soothe our relationship - that it may never thirsts for love;
With all the forces of the
universe you created, we pray for harmony and true happiness as we forever grow
young together. Amen."
From Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet
Then Almitra spoke
again and said, And what of Marriage, Master?
And he answered saying:
You were born together, and together you shall be
forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of
death scatter your days.
Ay, you shall be together even in the silent
memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between
you.
Love one another,
but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores
of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from
the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let
each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though
they quiver with the same music.
Give your hearts,
but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each
other's shadow.