Today
I want to speak about the focus of our first and second reading, that
is, the institution of Marriage and fidelity in it. However, I would
like to start from our second reading, the letter to the Hebrews,
which says that Christ was made lower than the angels according to
the Father's Will so that he could be “made perfect through
suffering.” In His faithfulness to the Cross, we see that
Suffering is the path to perfection for Our Lord, and thus also the
same path for all of us.
On
Friday I was bringing Holy Communion to the homebound, and visited a
couple celebrating sixty years of marital fidelity. “Thanks be to
God! Congratulations!” I said to them. “I hope I can say the
same about my own priesthood in 59 years!” Then they said, “Well,
it wasn't always easy!” Then we discussed how as priests and
married couples we have crosses of different types, but they are all
exactly that: suffering which makes us perfect. If the cross is the
Lord's instrument for our salvation, then how can we reject it in our
own lives? Rejecting the Cross would be to reject our path to
salvation.
This
is what makes the permanence of the institution of marriage (and also
priesthood) so beautiful. They are beautiful because they reflect
God who is love, who shows us the fulness of love from the Cross, who
loves us while we are still sinners so that we can love Him in
return, and others for His sake. The cross, the Eucharist, marriage,
and the priesthood are meant to witness by their permanence that God
will never abandon us, no matter what. No matter what, God is there.
“Made
perfect through suffering,” Hebrews says. For the Christian,
whether married or dedicated to the Lord and service of the Bride of
Christ, the Church, we can translate this simply as: “made holy
through self-giving love!” This is the path to holiness, and
anything that helps us to do that is going to lead to our salvation.
Whatever fails to do so weakens that in our lives.
In
our world, the institution of marriage is suffering some serious
challenges under the shifting sands of our culture. Many are
attempting to re-define it so that it no longer has the the crosses
that come with it, those crosses that stretch our self, that turn our
focus from our needs toward that of another. If we fail to learn to
love here, where will it be taught? If children are raised without
the witness of the loving fidelity between husband and wife, how can
they prepare themselves for the same vocation as adults? Where will
the faithfulness of God be modeled for them?
Yes,
marriage isn't always easy. Priesthood isn't always easy. Being
Christian and standing up for your faith isn't always easy, because
loving God and following His Will is not always easy. Look at the
Cross where our Lord was made perfect through suffering, where we are
made holy through self-giving love. He has loved you so that you can
do the same. Let us pray that in the Eucharist, where the love of
the Cross comes into our world, we may be strengthened by God's
faithfulness, so that we may never abandon Him in carrying the cross
shaped for us and receiving the gift of eternal life.
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