Lassoe

"The bride and groom my be lassoed."
I wasn't quite sure if I heard Fr. Frank correctly.
I was in line Saturday afternoon for a confession and there was a wedding in the main sanctuary.

Lassoed?
I couldn't concentrate on my examination of conscience and peered through the church's columns.
The couple was definitely tied together by a long string of beads.

I found out later it was a rosary, a symbol of the union and protection of their marriage.
It is not just a tradition of Catholic Hispanics, but of all Hispanics.
Sometimes a cord is used and they are both entwined as a figure 8 loop around the couple's shoulders, "symbolic of their love...as they equally share the responsibility of marriage for the rest of their lives."

More often than not, a rosary is used.
To call upon the greeting that signaled a pregnancy.
An unexpected pregnancy.
And perhaps the end of a happy engagement.

"Hail Mary... fruit of thy womb, Jesus."
Would Jesus unite them or divide them?
He came in such unusual circumstances.

Joseph and Mary, being humans as we are are, would not have been sure then.
With two thousand years of hindsight, we know Joseph and Mary eventually became a faithful and joyful couple.

Jesus will unite us.
If we allow him.
To come as he pleases.

Photo credit: www.weddingbee.com
For more info on Hispanic wedding customs: http://www.weddingdetails.com/lore/mexican.cfm