Saying nice things

The theme of Love dominates today’s liturgical readings at Mass, and this reminds me of a moving, touching story which you can all imitate. A couple were celebrating their golden jubilee, 50 years of marriage. And during their reception, the husband was asked what was the secret of their happy marriage. And he told this story which had kept to himself for 50 years. Sarah his wife was the only woman he dated. He was raised in an orphanage and worked tirelessly all his life. He didn’t have time to meet girls, and so never dated anyone, until he met Sarah who blew him away with her beauty and went crazy after her. Within a year they were married.

On the day of the wedding, Sarah’s father called Trevor alone and gave him a small packet as a gift and told him: “In this package you have all you need to make your marriage happy and successful.” Feeling nervous, Trevor opened the package and found a gold watch. When he looked closer, he noticed an inscription on the face of the watch, a phrase he would see frequently, every time he checked the time of the day, several times a day. It was a phrase that had the secret which kept their marriage joy-filled, healthy and prosperous. The phrase was ‘Say something nice to Sarah!’ Then he showed them the watch, still on his wrist, gave a kiss to Sarah and gave her a big hug, with tears trickling down everyone’s cheeks. So when Jesus is reminding us today to love God and each other, as if He is telling us the same message that was on Trevor’s watch: ‘Say something nice to each other daily.....Do something pleasant to each other.....speak nice of one another.....’ This is the secret of happiness, love and successful marriages, harmony and unity between us.