I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.

In the Vatican today, Pope Francis is convening the Synod on the Family to explore the current He experience of marriage and the family.  The Church seeks to value the blessedness and holiness of your experience of family life.  While none of us live in an ideal world of family bliss, God is present in the family of each and every one of us.  Our family is immersed in the mystery of God’s love.  There is nothing we can do to stop God from being present in your experience of family life.  Thanks be to God.

As we know, Pope Francis was in Philadelphia last weekend for the World Meeting of Families.  I was deeply moved by Pope Francis -- this simple, humble man of faith who so beautifully witnessed to us the merciful love of Jesus.  He is the Vicar of Christ on earth; he is our North Star to a Gospel way of living.

He called us to a spirituality of dialogue, a spirituality of mercy, and a  spirituality of mercy.  He made us aware of our higher calling to serve and care and love for one another.

As the Church convenes the Synod on the Family, maybe it is prophetic that today’s scriptures call us to consider our grace-filled family challenges.  As we see in today’s Scriptures, there are basic values to marriage and family life.  In the first Scripture reading from the Book of Genesis, there is the need for companionship.  The Lord God said:  “It is not good for the man to be alone.  I will make a suitable partner for him.”  The need for companionship is basic and God-given in each of us.  We become our best selves in loving and sharing and giving with another.  This is expressed most beautifully in the marriage vows.  “I, John, take you Mary to be my wife.  I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health.  I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.”  These sacred words of the marriage vows express very powerfully the blessings of the Sacrament of Marriage.

In the Gospel,  Jesus said:  “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.  So they are no longer two but one flesh.  Therefore what God has joined together,  let no one separate.”  The Marriage covenant is a relationship characterized by permanence and fidelity.

 

The fullness of the sacrament of Marriage celebrates the marriage covenant for all the days of your life.  The Synod on the Family and the whole Church prays that the grace of the marriage commitment be lived out by all the families in our parish community.

Still, faithfulness has not always endured in marriage. That is the point in today’s Gospel at which the Pharisees attempt to test Jesus.  “Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?”  Clearly the ideal is how Jesus responds:  “What God has joined together, no one must divide.”

Pope Francis has acknowledged there are times couples must separate for the sake of the spouse and/or young children from wounds caused by serious sinfulness in the human condition.   The Church in the Synod wants to be of service to families who struggle and to families that are blessed in their love for another.

The ideals of a lifelong marriage are very much the ideal and the beautiful commitment of the marriage vows.  We pray for all who celebrate the sacrament of marriage that will be so blessed.  But we humans struggle to reach those ideals.  We are limited and frail.  We rely on God’s understanding and mercy.  We also need to offer each other support.  We are all in this together.

I count myself very blessed in my family life.  My mom and dad were faithful to their marriage vows all the days of their lives.  I have five brothers and sisters -- two of them are deceased.  But they all are very much of my wonderful experience of family.  Without any doubt, my first experience of God’s love for me was experienced in the context of my family.

As we are grateful for the love that we have experienced, may we always be mindful of the call of God that we are to share what we have with those are in need.  If you permit, I would like to add a word on the diocesan Catholic Ministry Appeal.  The CMA is our way as a family and as a parish family sharing what we have with families who are in need.  As the video beautifully witnessed, the CMA is our vehicle for sharing beyond our parish boundaries with those in need through our 12 county diocese.   As we have been given much, we need to share generously with those who need our help.

Today’s Gospel concludes with the words of Jesus:  “Let the little children come to me, for the kingdom  of God belongs to such as these.”  Families that are blessed with children indeed are very much blessed.

May you in your family life and in our parish family life always prize the presence of children as icons of the mystery of God’s presence among us.  As a child simply trusts in his or her mom and dad to know what is best for him, so may we trust in God’s loving plan for each and every one of us.