First off, the reading in question is Ephesians 5:21-33.
21 Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.
22 Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body.
24 As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her
26 to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word,
27 that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
28 So (also) husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
29 For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church,
30 because we are members of his body.
31 "For this reason a man shall leave (his) father and (his) mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."
32 This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church.
33 In any case, each one of you should love his wife as himself, and the wife should respect her husband.
Go Ahead Husbands, Nudge Away
Parallels between marriage and the Church
The first link there deals with how badly this passage is often misunderstood: people tend to read it and get so stuck on the "wives should be subordinate" part that they completely miss the point. And sadly, the reading ends up being cut (as it was in our church that day), skipping over verses 22-24 because those are "offensive to women".
The second link fleshes out a little bit the idea that marriage mirrors the Church. It's pretty short, but I loved it because it really speaks to the way that I view marriage.
This reading from Ephesians is one that really means a lot to me, and I've done a lot of thinking about it over the past few years, as I've been approaching marriage and pondering the idea of what it means as a sacrament. The idea of matrimony as something holy, and illustrating the relationship between Christ and the Church really inspires me -- and scares the crap out of me. In a good way! I don't think I ever thought much about marriage as anything more than two people enjoying each other enough that they decide to keep it going for the long haul (okay, I didn't really see it as quite that superficial, but it seems that way compared to how I see it now). But it's something so much bigger and better than just that. I can't wait to get there, but I also hope I can live up to my vocation.
You'll be hearing these verses at our wedding. :-) One reading chosen, 3 more to go.