Brothers and Sisters, the only right you incur as an aggrieved spouse is the right to take even more seriously the Law of Love—charity, the pure love of Christ.  The selfishness that you are tempted to indulge in when you talk of your “rights” is no different than the selfishness that you lament in your spouse!  The love that Christ has for us, on the other hand—no matter what thoughtless or awful things we do—requires that he “bear all things, believe all things, hope all things and endure all things.”[8]  That is scripture—Moroni 7:45, specifically.  Neither you nor I have the right to interpret those phrases so that they come to mean something like, “bears many things, believes many things, hopes quite often, and endures a lot.”  I testify to you that it means what it says, as difficult as it may be to follow its direction.  I do understand, nevertheless, that when another mortal is involved, we are expected to be humbly compliant only insofar as the other hearkens to the voice of Deity.

So, I have said to you that covenants and romantic love are not identical concepts; that we are commanded, not merely urged, to love our spouse and cleave to him or to her and none else; that you individually cannot abrogate the covenant you entered into when you were sealed to your spouse in the temple without serious and painful consequences—because your covenant is with Deity; that sin, like the minute dandelion seed, will enter into our soul on the slightest provocation and that its eradication is more difficult than we might wish.

Further, I have addressed those of you who suffer injustice at the hands of your spouse—I know that it does happen, we all know it.  We are all human.  I have said to you that your obligation according to the Law of Love, called the “greatest of all,” is to endure and bear all things, believing and having hope that through your patience, your lack of envy, your refusal to be provoked and your rejoicing in the truth, you will help to effect a reconciliation between the two of you, thus becoming an instrument for salvation, acting in the stead of the Savior himself.  Could you do anything of greater significance in this life?

My testimony, based on personal revelation (as are all true testimonies), is that the church that teaches us these truths is the only religious institution on the earth recognized by Jesus Christ as “distinctively his own,” in the words of James E. Talmage.  I pray that we may all be moved to take seriously our responsibilities in connection with the great sealing ordinance.  In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

[1] Jac. 1:17
[2] Jac. 2:2
[3] Jac. 2:25
[4] Jac. 2:10
[5] D&C 42:22
[6] Matt. 19:5-6
[7] D&C 132:19
[8] Moro. 7:45