A special moment during Communion

It was time for Communion, and people were filing toward the altar to receive the Eucharist.My family was in the second to last row, so I had plenty of time to wait and watch and pray.

I noticed that one of my friends who is a Eucharistic minister was holding the chalice with Jesus’ Precious Blood. As I watched, her husband stepped up to receive Jesus, and she handed him the chalice.

It was a simple exchange—but I was struck by the power and the beauty of that interaction between a husband and wife.

Marriage requires a giving of self to each other every single day, being like Christ to one another. On our wedding day, we say yes to being forever together before God. We say yes to the happy times we know will come, but we also say yes to the challenges we expect and the crises we can’t possibly imagine.

Fifteen years into our marriage, I know that this sacrament is one of the greatest gifts God has given me. Marriage is a calling and a joy and an extraordinary adventure. The love marriage requires is not always easy, but—as Jesus showed us Himself—it is good and true and transformative.

Watching my friend place Jesus—Love Himself—in her husband’s hands left me in awe. It was poignant and powerful. It made me even more excited to receive Jesus Himself in the Eucharist moments later. And it sent me home renewed and eager to try to live and love more fully in my marriage, in my parenting, and in my other interactions with people around me.

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