No to Divorce, Yes to the Love that Binds

This family picture was taken during our parents’ 64th Wedding Anniversary Renewal of Vows at the Holy Family Parish Church in 2007.

They got married in 1943 at the break of war. Through the years they produced 13 children, lost 4 of them in infancy, and successfully raised, sheltered, clothed, fed, and educated all nine of us surviving children. Dad was the sole breadwinner for the family. Mom, a professional school teacher, left her job and took care of the household. Life for us was not easy but somehow, by the grace of God, and a fervent love in the family, Dad and Mom saw our family through every trial, through ups and downs and the joys of raising a large family. Our parents made sure that God is at the center of everything. Mom was our first catechist; every night she would gather us all to pray together in front of the family altar.

We, the children, never saw nor heard our parents quarreling nor arguing. Maybe they did but privately inside their bedroom, away from our sight and hearing. Dad would always tell us that any conflict should be resolved and forgiven before the break of another day.

Perhaps one of the reasons families are breaking up today is because families no longer pray as one; pride is abundant, and one’s self-centeredness prevails over love for the family.

Marriage isn’t just a union between man and woman; marriage is a union of man and woman before God and children. Divorce shatters that union, breaks the children, and renders the interior of family relations unmendable.

The family that prays together stays together. (Marian Carmela Raquel)