September 15 and 22, 2013
I wish to begin this homily by offering
congratulations to all of the married couples present here today who are
celebrating special wedding anniversaries this year. I celebrate this diocesan Mass every year to
express our esteem and gratitude for your faithful witness to the Lord in the
sacrament of marriage. At this time of
confusion and crisis in our society and culture regarding the truth and meaning
of marriage, your witness is greatly needed.
It is a testament to the dignity of this great gift and blessing
bestowed by God our Creator from the creation of the human race. “His hand has inscribed the vocation to
marriage in the very nature of man and woman” (USCCB Pastoral Letter).
In our second reading today, we heard a
beautiful part of the first letter of Saint John that gets to the very heart of
our Christian faith and the Christian understanding of God. Saint John writes that “God is love.” Saint Augustine once said that even if
nothing else were said in all the pages of Sacred Scripture and all that we
heard from the mouth of the Holy Spirit were that “God is love,” there would be
nothing else we would need to look for.
This is a great truth. God is love because in Himself, in life
within the Holy Trinity, He is a living communion of love: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This love was made manifest to us, revealed
to us, Saint John writes when God sent His Son into the world to be the
expiation for our sins. Since God is
love and we have been created in God’s image, we have the capacity and the
vocation to love. Saint John, therefore,
wrote: “let us love one another; for
love is of God, and he who loves is born of love and knows God.”
Of course, God established marriage as
a special reflection of His love.
“Marriage based on exclusive and definitive love (is) the icon (or
image) of the relationship between God and His people…” (USCCB II). When we think of God’s love and Christian
marital love, we realize that it is not merely a sentiment or emotion. It involves both our intellect and our
will. And it is something that is never
finished and complete. It grows and
matures through life, through ups and downs, joys and sorrows. Our anniversary couples can testify to
this. It involves sacrifice. We see this in Jesus and His Passion and
crucifixion – the total gift of Jesus the Bridegroom to His Bride, the
Church. It’s what Pope Benedict called
“love in its most radical form.” Saint
Paul called upon husbands to love their wives – how? As Christ loved the Church! In other words, totally, unto death. This is what you who are married promised
when you exchanged your wedding vows: to
love and honor each other until death do you part. You pledged your love and fidelity for as
long as you live. This mutual married
love is an image of the absolute and unfailing love with which God loves
mankind. Of course, we know that because
of human sinfulness, our love is never as pure and deep as God’s perfect
love. Yet, with the help of God’s grace
in the sacrament of marriage, you receive the strength and power to grow in
love. The Catechism says that when
Christian couples receive the grace of the Sacrament of Matrimony, “Christ
dwells with them, gives them the strength to take up their crosses and so
follow him, to rise again after they have fallen, to forgive one another, to
bear one another’s burdens, to be subject to one another out of reverence for
Christ, and to love one another with supernatural, tender and fruitful love.”
I think that for marriages to endure as
God wills, spouses need to be willing not only to forgive each other, but also
to do acts and courtesies of love toward each other, regardless of the feelings
of the moment. Acts of self-giving love
build marriages up and benefit the family and the Church. I am often moved when I see older couples
still doing such acts and courtesies of love for each other. It is often in these simple and ordinary
gestures and actions done with extraordinary love that marriages not only
survive, but thrive. Couples grow in a
love that is far deeper than a romantic feeling by maintaining the common
courtesies: persevering in fidelity,
kindness, communication, and mutual assistance.
And, of course, prayer: staying
close to Christ and His grace.
With admiration and gratitude for all
our anniversary couples, I celebrate this Mass.
The Mass is the perfect way to celebrate these wedding anniversaries
because the Holy Eucharist is the sacrament of love. It is the sacrament of the Bridegroom and the
Bride, Christ and the Church. The
Eucharist “strengthens the indissoluble unity and love of every Christian
marriage” (Sacramentum Caritatis #27).
Christ’s love for His Church which culminated on the cross is “the
origin and heart of the Eucharist.” (SC #27).
The Eucharist is also a foretaste of the heavenly marriage banquet,
described in the Book of Revelation as “the marriage feast of the Lamb.” Of course, this is our goal – to share in the
joy of the communion of saints in the marriage feast of heaven.
As we continue this liturgy, we pray
for all our anniversary couples, that their love may continue to grow and that
they may continue to cling to the unconditional promise they made on their
wedding days. May God “who is love”
abide always in your hearts! May the
love of Christ, present in the Holy Eucharist, move all married couples and all
of us to ever greater heights of love!