My Wedding Toast
Thank you for being with Ann and I today.
We have been dating and growing and loving each other for 2 years now. I knew I would marry her on our first date.
And here we are.
The moral of the story is that I am always right. Kidding. The moral of the story, actually, is that God is.
For the majority of my life, I thought I would end up a priest. After a lot of prayer and reflection over these last two years, though, I simply let go and let God guide me to this place where I find peace and joy and a desire to work with Ann as partners on a path to love in this life and the next.
And here we are.
I am so blessed to have Ann.
Ann: you are stunningly beautiful inside and out. You are devoted and thoughtful and intelligent and crafty and funnier and more charming than you realize. And I can truly say that I still fall in love with you over and over again each and every day. And without realizing it, you have taught me what love is all about in the ways you have loved me without hesitation and so beautifully, too. What a joyful future I have in front of me.
Let me talk about the past for a second though. I witnessed in my parents’ marriage heroic acts of love and sacrifice, and like all of you witnessed in my parents flaws and mistakes as well.
That sums up my relationship with Ann, too. We have both risen to the demands of love and also sunk when ceding to our fallen human nature. Growing together with her has been a beautiful experience that has taught me what love is all about.
Because in those moments in which the “better angels of our nature” took over, it was really the strength of God that took over and helped us rise above ourselves.
And that is what marriage is — rising above yourself and your own needs and sacrificing for the other.
My heart breaks that my parents Marie and Jean, and Ann’s father Nicholas aren’t here to celebrate with us. I want the Rossi family to know how much I have asked him for his intercession over these last two years. I wish, too, that this pandemic was not occurring and more of our family members could be present. But I also feel blessed that we have both had the great fortune of being raised by such devoted parents.
So as we all gather here to celebrate a marriage, let’s remember Mary’s words at the Wedding of Cana when she said about Jesus, “Do whatever He tells you”. That’s what I did, and it’s what lead me to you, Ann.
To my Ann: “I have taken you in my arms, and I love you, and I prefer you to my life itself. For the present life is nothing, and my most ardent dream is to spend it with you in such a way that we may be assured of not being separated in the life reserved for us.I place your love above all things, and nothing would be more bitter or painful to me than to be of a different mind than you.” (St. John Chrysostom)
I love you.
So let’s raise a glass to our love. May we blaze a beautiful path on earth that carries us into the next life together forever.
