Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 3, 2021
“The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him.’... ‘And for that reason a man shall leave his father and mother and cling to his wife and the two shall become one flesh.’... ‘Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them.’”
One of the greatest gifts the Lord gave us is the Sacrament of Matrimony. It is the source of grace, of holiness, for those who are called, embraced and blessed as the Lord reached out to the children in Mark’s gospel.
Unfortunately there has been a legal theft of the word ‘marriage’, a distortion of its real meaning. For this reason we turn to the gift of the sacrament and refer to the ‘Sacrament of Matrimony’ in the same way that God chose to send grace to us in our baptism, to strengthen us in confirmation and nourish us in the Eucharist, Jesus gave us this sign of His presence.
As we listen to the Word of God today may we do several things. For those married in the church, pause, pray for your spouse and thank the Lord for this gift. For those who live in a civil union, realize what you are missing and arrange for the church blessing of your union. For those who have not yet sought the blessing of the church or state, realize that you have absolutely no legal protection, nor are you living the life of grace.
For those who call same sex unions ‘marriage’, remember the word is now abused and that Jesus’ gift of the sacrament is something else.