Hands, some bearing wrinkles of a long and well-lived life,
were squeezed gently, and a few tears were brushed away as
couples re-exchanged vows during the Marriage Jubilee Mass
Oct. 19.
Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde celebrated the annual
liturgy honoring marital love and commitment at the Cathedral
of St. Thomas More in Arlington, where about 250 couples
marked either 25 years or a half-century of marriage.
In a pew along the cathedral’s right transept were Ronald and
Sharon Gripshover, parishioners of St. Elizabeth of Hungary
Church in Colonial Beach. Smiles spread across their faces as
they reaffirmed the promises they’d made decades before.
“This day reminds you of the past and how you’ve gotten to
where you are,” said Sharon. “And it helps you appreciate the
Lord’s action in our lives.”
Celebrating their 50th anniversary next month, the
Gripshovers also attended the annual Mass for their silver
jubilee. The intervening years have been marked by
milestones. Six of their seven children married, one was
ordained a priest, and 50 grandchildren were born, the most
recent just weeks ago.
Four of their children, including Father Ronald J. Gripshover
Jr., now parochial vicar of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in
Arlington, were present at the Mass.
During his homily, Bishop Loverde said the Lord is the “third
partner” in married life, and husbands and wives must
perpetually turn to Him for assistance.
“Each couple here has journeyed together, sharing both times
of authentic joy and happiness and times of sorrow and
sadness,” he said. There have been “times of accomplishment
and success, but also times of disappointment and failure
… and long periods of the routine, ordinary and
commonplace things of daily life.”
Through all, the bishop told the jubilarians, “you have
persevered,” because you have been open to the “presence of
the Lord Jesus in your lives.”
For Sharon and Ronald, it was science, you could say, that
brought them together. But perseverance and faith have
sustained them.
The two met as physics students at Michigan State University,
both inspired as high schoolers to aid the space race after
the Russians launched Sputnik, the first artificial
satellite.
In an interview last week, the Gripshovers said two things
have helped keep their marriage strong: They pray together
every night, and they never go to sleep in an argument.
“In those early years of marriage, sometimes we’d go to bed
late,” said Sharon, laughing.
Fellow golden jubilarians Paul and Laurel Gauthier,
parishioners of St. Mary of Sorrows Church in Fairfax, shared
their own marital wisdom prior to Sunday’s Mass.
“People say that marriage is 50-50,” said Paul, a past grand
Knight. “But it’s actually 100-100.” His wife nodded, adding,
“You both have to be willing to give it your all.”
Bishop Loverde said in his homily that the marital
relationship is ordained by God.
“Each human person is created to live not in isolation but in
a life-giving relationship with another, and in marriage –
understood to be the union of one man with one woman – in a
relationship rooted in permanence, fidelity and openness to
new life,” he said.
The bishop reflected briefly on the extraordinary Synod of
Bishops, which concluded the day of the Marriage Jubilee
Mass. He said the gathering in Rome was part of an effort to
“arrive at new ways of expressing the perennial truth
regarding marriage and the family.”
Echoing his letter issued Oct. 17, he said that “regrettably,
wildly diverse interpretations” were voiced following the
synod’s midterm report, but he encouraged the faithful to “be
at peace.” The truth about marriage is rooted in natural law
and the Scriptures and will not change, he said.
Concluding his homily, the bishop thanked jubilarians for
their witness of faith and for striving “to make real the
truth that in marriage, love is the mission.”
That mission and its fruits were demonstrated by the
Gripshover family after Mass, as Father Gripshover wrapped
his parents in a bear hug.
“My parents’ example has sustained me and encouraged me in
all things, including my vocation,” said Father Gripshover.
“Their love and faith is profoundly wonderful.”
It’s the kind of love the Lord speaks of and offers to each
of us, he said. “It’s the kind of love that is forever.”
