The Vision of Marriage

At Alastair's Adversaria is a nice piece on marriage, in which I found this marvelous quote from Alexander Schmemann's For The Life of the World:
"In movies and magazines the 'icon' of marriage is always a youthful couple. But once, in the light and warmth of an autumn afternoon, this writer saw on the bench of a public square, in a poor Parisian suburb, an old and poor couple. They were sitting hand in hand, in silence, enjoying the pale light, the last warmth of the season. In silence: all words had been said, all passion exhausted, all storms at peace. The whole life was behind--yet all of it was now present, in this silence, in this light, in this warmth, in this silent unit of hands. Present--and ready for eternity, ripe for joy. This to me remains the vision of marriage, of its heavenly beauty." 

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