of weddings and endless love

At age 30, I have attended several weddings with different themes, motifs, and grandeur. I have my personal favorites. Be it simple, pompous, or simply extravagant either for the union of powerful business empires or for the sake of being part of the married couple society or simply for the noble goal of becoming parents. To me, weddings seemed more like a formal declaration of the desire to end singlehood (to seek for a new challenge in life or a new daily routine as the answer to their boredom) or the start of mutual dependency of two people or sometimes even as the saving grace to a new human life in concepcion. I have never looked at weddings with such wonder until the recent one I attended yesterday.

The couple initially appeared to me to be just like other couples who have reached the marrying age and wanted to get married. But after the audio visual presentation of their social backgrounds and a few words from the matron of honor, it surfaced as an extraordinary union. The groom was a former seminarian training to become a Catholic priest. The most important vow of his life was to become a man in service of God with celibacy as part of that vocation. He never thought he would serve God in a different manner until he met this amazing lady. As the matron related to us, the lady was his "answered prayer" from God as he sought for Divine Guidance for a final deciding point on his chosen vocation. He decided not to go back to the seminary ever since. That explained his bedazzled look and radiant smile.

I think I've never witnessed a matrimony as powerful as their unrelenting love and sweet gazes at each other. It's like watching one of the scenes from blockbuster romantic movies of Jericho Rosales and Kristine Hermosa or Aga Muhlach and Claudine Barreto in "Kailangan Kita." Only this time, these are real, regular people; but not some seasoned actors nor society celebrities whose weddings are being shot for the silverscreen or a television special.

It's an irony that it is only now as I have stopped believing in fairytale love stories and magical weddings that I have witnessed a heartwarming, enchanting love story. After all, true love brought together by destiny still exists. I think God was the One who brought them together. And their prayerful nature made all that difference.

I pray that this circumstance could also happen in my life.