March 26. Tuesday of Holy Week.  “I will love you and honour you all the days of my life. I will lay down my life for you.”  These words of faithfulness and commitment are expressed at every wedding and expected to be lived out every future day. As all couples examine their conscience they can ask, “Was I faithful in word and in deed?  Was my mouth like the sharp sword of Isaiah’s Servant of God or were my words idle words, spoken with blunted feelings and a closed mind?“  Our religion can too easily become a series of rituals not embedded into daily lives and yet there is a saying, “Jesus is the 3rd partner in a successful marriage.”  

Read, reflect, share and pray. He made my mouth like a sharp sword.  And he said, “you are my servant Israel in whom I will be glorified. But I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity. Yet surely my right is with the Lord.   Is 49: 1-6 the 2nd Song of the Servant.  Peter said, “I will lay down my life for you. Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? I say to you the cock will not crow till you have denied me 3 times. John 13:38. Pope Francis: After the love that unites us to God, marital love is the greatest form of friendship. AL 123. Choose appropriate action.