Marriage is
A Dwelling Place for God
Marriage is not a lifelong attraction of two individuals to each other, but a call for two people to witness together the amazing love of God. The basis of marriage is not mutual affection, or feelings, or emotions and passion that we associate with love, but a vocation, a being elected to build together a house for God in this world.
The real mystery of marriage is not that a husband and wife love each other so much that they can find God in each other's lives, but that God loves them so much that they can discover each other more and more as living reminders of God's presence. They are brought together, indeed, as two prayerful hands extended toward God and forming in this way a home for God in this world.
Excerpts from Seeds of Hope, Henri Nouwen
