___CLICK / AUDIO OF SUN. Oct. 3, 2021 HOMILY__
● Genesis 2;18-24 ● Psalm
_128__ ● Hebrews 2:9-11 ●
+ Mark 10:2-16 ●
Title: . Marriage / the serious and sleepless servant (Genesis, 2, Mark 10)
[__01_] I’d like to touch on 3 aspects of a wedding and marriage and our own desire for a perfect day, in terms of Christian marriage being the perfection of marriage calling us each us to be…
[SERIOUS / SOLEMN] /
[SLEEPLESS] /
[a …SERVANT…]
I know that “sleepless” sounds like
something really bad…but I think it could be something hopeful.
[__02_] [1st.
SERIOUS, SOLEMN]
We read in the Gospel today about the
SERIOUSNESS or SOLEMNITY of marriage:
“From the beginning of creation, God
made them male and female. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and
mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” (Mark 10:7-8)
It is an serious point of Judeo-Christian
doctrine that every woman is a of a nature equal to every man … that the feminine
nature is equal the masculine
nature.
As a grown-up, I can appreciate the solemnity
and seriousness of this message about marriage.
I also have these early memories – at about
age 12 of the SERIOUSNESS of marriage because I was one of the altar servers at
my church helping with weddings.
Yet, as a kid, at the earliest weddings I
attended -- I was very impressed that at such a moment, bride and groom could
hardly pronounce their own names and say the words and then they might burst
into tears. That was weird! I was 12, what did I know? Was this serious?
My impressions – at age 12 – came when I was
an altar server at my church at church weddings, at our parish church in St.
Catharine’s Glen Rock.
And, this was so long ago that there was
nobody doing any video or a livestream, but I have a TikTok / YouTube in my
mind about the event and then the nervous bride and groom.
And, the true seriousness was now personified
– IRL (in real life) – to me and was more dramatic than any fictional or TV
wedding.
It is is a daunting, solemn commitment to
give yourself away in this manner.
As a total gift of self, marriage has two
purposes in God’s plan. First, it is meant for “the good of the couple,”
building each other up and helping each other to learn to love as God loves.
Second, it is meant for the “generation and education of children.” The total,
unconditional love between husband and wife is meant to be the usual way that
new children are welcomed into the world and taught to love as God loves.
This
is the seriousness of marriage.
[__03_] [2nd. SLEEPLESSNESS]
Marriage also teaches us about being
“sleepless”.
I know that “sleepless” sound bad and
foreboding and unhealthy, but I suggest that in a marriage the wife and husband
are constantly vigilant for each other. St. Paul summarizes it this way, noting
that those who are married are not only concerned for themselves and for God
but also concerned for the other. (cf. 1st Corinthians 7)
In the Gospel, we read today a hopeful
statement, a challenging statement, but also a hopeful statement, the two shall
become one flesh, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has
joined, man must not separate or in the older translation, what God has joined
man must not put asunder.
And…if couples can face many perils or
dangers – material things, social pressures… the death of a loved one…the
illness of child, the illness or health of each other… any 1 or more will keep
them up at night…will make them “sleepless”
For this reason, married couples really need
the prayers and sacrifices of those around them. Couples get married in church
because of their need for our prayers … we are also called to burn the midnight
oil to pray for them.
In a marriage, there will be days when
the spouses will hang on for dear life to the words / vows they made. They may
not feel very loving to each other. They may not have the sentiment of
gentleness or compassion. They may wish the other person would change his ways
or her ways. They may wonder what life would be like if they were not married.
Either or both may even feel “alone” and unable to communicate.
They
may be SLEEPLESS.
Yet, none of this changes the fact that they
have entered into the solemnity of marriage, by a vow before God, and this has
an invisible reality.
[__04_] Also, the sacrament of matrimony –
marriage – shows us the way in which God wishes to love us and live for us. God
is SLEEPLESS for you, for me…
Due to our own struggles and
difficulties in life, how do we feel toward God? Are we sleepless for him?
Do you feel not very loving toward God and
neighbor on some days? Do you fear or feel God is out to get you or has become
your enemy? Do you wish God would change
his ways? Do you wonder what life would
be like if God did not exist? Do you feel alone?
And, amid all of this frustration and
anxiety on our part, God does not give up on you or us. Marriage is a gift and
sacramental relationship which shows us the way God wishes to live for us and
love us. He sleepless.
[__05_] [3rd.
SERVANT / service]
I’d like to touch on the “service” of
marriage. Service and servitude is the mark of Jesus’ work and example.
On the day of a wedding, the groom
sometimes takes a somewhat humble place…
The groom is expected to be the
servant in a particular way to his bride. This is good news.
Jesus is also the groom and bridegroom
of the church who takes a humble place, the Son of God who joins himself to our
humanity.
The Son of Man came not to be served
but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for the many.
But, first just an example / reminder of our
own local-earthly weddings and “grooms”.
On the day of an actual wedding, I ask the groom
and the best man come here to the center aisle of church, at least 5-10 minutes
before the bride enters, and the groom gets his picture taken, everyone's
happy.
But I also remind you that we are called to
reflect and remember that that this is also the Christian life.
Our salvation is based on Jesus being the
groom and also entering first, going ahead of us to the cross.
Marriage is a gift and sacramental
relationship, which shows us the way and God wishes to live for us and love us.
In the letter the Ephesians, ch. 5, we read
the exhortation to husbands. “Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the
church who died and gave himself up for her.”
And so to all young women and girls, those
who are thinking about marriage now or in the future, and all you young men to
remember this Ephesians 5 is your criteria. The calling of a husband is not
only to live for his bride, but to die for her. Nothing less.
Jesus is our Savior and as the groom and the church
is his bride.
He has been born through the Incarnation to
cling to us to stay with us. And in this regard, our prayer and desire for him
is the solution to our own being alone.
[__06_] [R.F
/ G.R.]
I’d to close with this example of
being SERIOUS, being SLEEPLESS, being a SERVANT in marriage.
About a week ago, a friend of mine – Robert -
told me about how he happened to bump into my father and mother in the past
several months. Robert told me he was very impressed by my father. That is, my father was walking with my mother
in her wheelchair. Because my mother, my mother can walk but she's and my
mother is ambulatory. But the wheelchair helps her in certain circumstances.
And because my father likes to maintain a certain average speed, miles per
hour, even on the sidewalk, the wheelchair helps them move a little faster.
And Robert affirmed how wonderful this was he
gave my father a hug because of this, because it reminded him of what was his
calling during his wife’s illness a few years earlier. At this time, Rob took
her everywhere and did not care what anybody thought.
Robert knew it was his calling to love her in
sickness and in health and until death. Jesus is our bridegroom and loves us,
till death, and even after death.
God does not leave us alone, but dies to give
us himself completely through the Holy Spirit.
Jesus is sleepless, vigilant for you and for
me.
In the example of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
Mother of God, when we remember today, as we anticipate this month of the
rosary, the feast of the Our Lady of the Rosary, Mary the mother of God, we
also see one who was at first pictured being alone.
Mary is always by herself in the moment of
the amongst the nation at the moment of the Annunciation from the angel, but
she is also waiting for a moment of betrothal. Mary is sleepless
This is a moment of sleeplessness that is
also based SOLEMNITY and SERVICE, by her prayer and openness, she had a
solitude which gave her peace. Mary's yes was the solution to our being alone.
And our yes to God is the solution to being alone. We are called to welcome
Jesus in His Word so that we might know him and his wisdom as the solution so
that we might know his love and know that we are not alone, so that we – in
fact – can rest, we can hope for a peaceful life and death and to live and
sleep in his peace.
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