Fr. Serge reminds us that at its heart, service is love. For married persons, this is not abstract—it is lived daily. The work we do for our families, the sacrifices we make as husbands, wives, fathers, and mothers—these are not merely responsibilities, but concrete expressions of love.

In this light, true life is service.

We see this reflected even in nature: everything exists in a kind of self-giving. The grass feeds the animals, the animals sustain human life. Creation itself follows a pattern of offering. In the same way, we are called to live not for ourselves, but for others.

This is why Fr. Serge says that life is Eucharistic at its core. Like the bread in the Eucharist, life finds its meaning in being “broken” and given. In the celebration of the Eucharist, especially in the breaking of the bread, we are invited to remember: someone has given himself for me. And we are asked to “do this” — to live likewise.

Marriage, then, becomes a profound sign of this reality. It is a sacrament of God’s love—where each spouse gives himself or herself totally to the other, mirroring the total self-giving within the Trinity.

Yet difficulties arise when we begin to withhold ourselves, when we resist the call to serve. For the natural fruit of love is service, and it is precisely in self-gift that we find fulfillment. A husband or wife becomes most fully himself or herself not in self-preservation, but in self-donation.

Still, this kind of love is not something we can sustain by our own strength alone. This is why Jesus Christ came to dwell among us—so that we might love through Him and with Him.

When we pray, “Lord, how can we love more?” we must be prepared: the answer often leads us to sacrifice. For the way of the Master is the way of the Cross. And yet, it is precisely there—through grace, through union with Christ—that we discover the fullness of love and the true meaning of service.