Two-ring circus.

As I warned the other day, today is World Marriage Day. Can you believe it? I feel like I just took down the decorations from last World Marriage Day.

Today is also the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time. And the first reading was from the Book of Job:

Job spoke, saying:
Is not man’s life on earth a drudgery?
Are not his days those of hirelings?
He is a slave who longs for the shade,
a hireling who waits for his wages.
So I have been assigned months of misery,
and troubled nights have been allotted to me.
If in bed I say, “When shall I arise?”
then the night drags on;
I am filled with restlessness until the dawn.
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle;
they come to an end without hope.
Remember that my life is like the wind;
I shall not see happiness again.

Very appropriate, no?

Hey, you see what I just did? I made fun of marriage. Just like I was complaining about the other day. And I've enjoyed decades of loving marriage. All five of my wives---

Did it again. No, my one wife has stuck with me through everything, God bless her. I know I'm lucky. With the best will in the world, a person can find himself or herself in a failing marriage; can discover that his or her partner has been unfaithful, or is crazy, or abusive, or hooked on drugs, or any number of horrible things. And even if you're both in for the long haul, and you don't face societal disintegration, plague, natural disaster, war, or anything else than can ruin normal human relations, you can face unemployment, temptation to stray, family drama, debt, doldrums, disease, and all kinds of disruptions that can push a normal marriage to the edge. People who have stayed married and still love each other deserve respect and even envy. It's not easy.

But then again, life is not easy. It's actually easier to get through it with someone you love and trust. Somehow we have been getting the message that it's easier and better to go it alone all the time. Someone's not telling the truth.

I'm glad that so many girls still dream of weddings. I wish we did a better job of preparing girls and boys for marriage. Then again, we do not do a really good job of preparing them for adulthood in general, so it's not surprising.