Fullerton T

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for this weekend  set the ideal of God’s purpose and plan for creation and marriage.  In the Catholic Church, marriage is a sacrament. A sacrament is the presence of God, the most powerful presence of the Lord possible in this world. In the sacrament of Baptism, God is present giving the Life of the Trinity to the baptized. In Penance God is present through his Son giving his forgiveness to the penitent. In the Eucharist, the Son is present nourishing the communicant and uniting him in an intimate way to the Divine Presence as Jesus is offered to the Father for us. In the sacrament of marriage, Jesus is present uniting the love of the husband and wife. Marriage, according to Genesis, was always meant to be a joining of man and woman in one flesh, in one heart, and in one spirit. It all begins with caring about the other. It all begins with a sense of respect and dignity for the other. It all begins with each contributing to the Then follows a walking together, side-by-side, holding hands and confronting whatever would seek to divide. The effect of all of this  is a growth in love. In that growth of love there comes to each an understanding of the magnificence of God’s love for us.

 Marriage is a sacrament, a making present the Son of God who sends us God’s Spirit. That Spirit unites us, makes us whole. Contentions and disagreements become not a divider but a pathway to greater union. There are many people who are in various forms of civil partnership and I am not going to knock them for not following what marriage is all about in the sacramental sense. The people involved in Civil  partnerships  have made a commitment to their partners and we need to show respect for the commitment that is there while being true to why we think so much of the Catholic idea of marriage and what it stands for.  The “rit of divorce” in the Gospel Reading for this Sunday was there to protect the woman from being discarded arbitrarily without any possibility of survival in a society where she could not work or support herself.  How does our society and our Church actually treat and those who find themselves as unable to keep the “happily ever after” scenario?  Togetherness for life certainly remains the ideal both for Jesus and his followers.  But our Church community has to face the reality  that many marriages break down, and some of the victims of a broken marriage feel a deep longing for a new life partner and a new start.

 But this raises an acute question for the Church community: Can there be only point-blank black and white refusals there is much debate around all of this as there has always been as this is not the black and white issue many people would like it to be. I have been blessed in seeing so many people getting married and many others celebrating the 25^th 50^th and even the 60^th anniversaries of their marriage commitments. But many people will tell you that their married lives were not always a bed of roses. Married life, like any human endeavour, requires effort, work, and discipline. The exchange of vows is  only the beginning of a life together it is not the high point. The term “partner” should be taken literally as true marriage means that the 2 people work together in partnership. Whenever marriage is celebrated and respected, there is peace, joy, and Love. So today we pray for a proper understanding of what marriage means in the catholic sense as we acknowledge the goodness that are there in other forms of partnerships that are more normal these days than in the past.