(Readings)
Not everyone is call to
the vocation of married life. Some are called to be single, some religious,
some will lead a consecrated life as a lay person. But everyone is called to
love.
The sacrament of marriage
is a promise between God and the couple being married. It is also pretty much a
Catholic sacrament. Protestant Churches do not recognize the Sacrament
of Marriage, arguing it is not in the gospel. Instead it is identified as
a religious rite. Maybe, they overlooked today’s gospel.
Friends, we are made by
God for good things.
God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make
a suitable partner for him." God made us sexual beings and gave us
gender. He gave us the gift of marriage and the ability to be fruitful. God
made us open to and dependent on each other, they
shall become one flesh.
Because of our fallen
world that openness and dependence brings vulnerability. Those who are married
become vulnerable to the torments of the others sin and its heart-break and suffering.
Sin hardens the heart
and destroys marriages; even marriages that are promises to God. Jesus says the destruction of a marriage is not from God
but comes from the hardness of hearts.
Hardness of heart creates
violence and abuse – physical, mental, emotional. It creates dissatisfaction, infidelity,
and a person that cares more about self than anyone else. Hardness of the heart
can justify desertion and reneging on the promise to the spouse, the children,
and to God.
The hard heart attacks the
heart of others. It is a heart far from love. Hardness of heart assaults the Sacrament
of Marriage.
Churches that do not consider
marriage a sacrament have little problem with divorce. Churches failing the
sacrament may even promote marriage between the same sexes; Husband and Husband
or Wife and Wife.
That’s not the way God
made us. God made a suitable partner for the man, a
partner that is bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh; called woman.
The Sacrament of
Marriage Jesus describes is that from the beginning
of creation, God made them male and female so that a man would leave his father
and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.
Unless your family is living
in the Garden of Eden, it will experience some conflict of marriage. In my
family some are on their third, fourth or fifth spouse. There are gay and lesbian
couples; some say they are married. That is the real world.
Jesus accepts each of us
as the sinners as we are. Do not condemn or turn away another person. Do not condemn
who they are. Do not condemn who they love. Accept the ones they love. Each and
every person is loved by Christ.
But,
lifestyle or personal choices are not to be put before God. Do not change the gospel,
the word of Jesus for worldly benefit.
For those who suffer
divorce. Marriages are shattered every day by sin found in a hard heart. God
loves you and wants to make you whole.
A marriage that is
physically or emotionally abusive and filled with deceit, dangerous for you or
your children is far from love. God does not want this for you. A marriage cannot be distant from the promise made
to God and to each other.
Answers are found in
prayer. Understand your faith. God wants all to know His love, forgiveness,
empathy, and compassion brought to the world by each of us and that cannot be found
in a hard heart.
A hard heart can
destroy marriages and faith. Faith is not the marriage. Faith is a healing and
loving union with God. And that comes from grace and by the example of Jesus.
An example we can find
in Jesus words, “Let the children come to me; do
not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say
to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter
it."
A
child does not have a hard heart. A child knows everyone
is called to love.
This week, my daughter picked
up my grandson from daycare. As she called for him, he said goodbye to the
friend he was playing with, pulling his head down to kiss him on the crown of
his head. The other little boy didn’t know what to do.
His mother had to tell him,
you can’t kiss the others kids at school.
His answer, “That’s the
way Pop says goodbye. He kisses me on the head and tells me he loves me.”
No.
A child does not have a hard heart. Jesus wants us childlike,
loving, and accepting the kingdom of God.
We were made by God for
good things, one is a heart open to love, forgiveness, empathy, and compassion.
With an open heart, be good, be holy and preach the gospel by the way you live
and love. Amen.
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