by Fr. Tommy Lane
Most of the pop songs we hear are about love. Much poetry is about love. And in our first reading today we find the first love poetry in the Bible:
This at last is bone from my
bones
and flesh from my flesh!
This is to be called woman,
For this was taken from man. (Gen 2:18-24)
The lonely man in the Garden of Eden had his longing for company fulfilled when woman was created. There is a beautiful statement by St. Bernardina:
God did not make a woman out of a bone of Adam’s
foot, so that he should tread her underground, nor out of a bone of his head, so
that she should dominate him; but he made her out of his rib, which is close to
his heart, to teach him to love her truly, as his companion.
(Quoted by Jensen God's Word to Israel p53 note 8).
This natural attraction and longing to spend life together is made holy in the Sacrament of Marriage.
Those who are married can rise to the heights of holiness and are called to rise to the heights of holiness. On Feb 12, 1966, Pope Paul VI said to the Italian Feminine Center,
Marriage and the Christian family call for a moral commitment. They are not an easy way of Christian life…Rather, marriage is a long path toward sanctification.
Notice that he said marriage is a path towards sanctification. Marriage is a way to achieve holiness. When we consider some of the advice the Bible gives us about living the Christian life we can understand how marriage can indeed be a path to sanctification. Jesus said that to follow him we must be servants, and marriage is a life of service to one’s spouse and children. St. Paul said there are three things that last: faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love. Marriage is a commitment to love one’s spouse until death. No wonder that Pope Paul VI said marriage is a long path towards sanctification.
Pope Paul VI said that marriage and the Christian family call for moral commitment and are not an easy way of life. Instead of continuing on that path towards sanctification, even from early in Old Testament times, some wanted a way out and so Moses regulated divorce. But in our Gospel Jesus calls for a return again to God’s plan for lifelong marriage and commitment. When our Holy Father Pope John Paul II was in Ireland, on the day he left Ireland on October 1, 1979, he said in Limerick,
It is true that the stability and sanctity of marriage are being threatened by new ideas and by the aspirations of some. Divorce for whatever reason it is introduced, inevitably becomes easier and easier to obtain and it gradually comes to be accepted as a normal part of life. The very possibility of divorce in the sphere of civil law makes stable and permanent marriages more difficult for everyone. May Ireland always continue to give witness before the modern world to her traditional commitment, corresponding to the true dignity of man, to the sanctity and the indissolubility of the marriage bond. May the Irish always support marriage, through personal commitment and through positive social and legal action.
Above all, hold high the
esteem for the wonderful dignity and grace of the sacrament of marriage. Prepare earnestly for it. Believe in the spiritual power which
this sacrament of Jesus Christ gives to strengthen the marriage union, and to
overcome all the crises and problems of life together. Married people must believe in the power
of the sacrament to make them holy; they must believe in their vocation to
witness through their marriage to the power of Christ’s love. True love and the grace of God can never let marriage become
a self-centred relationship of two individuals, living side by side for their
own interests.
(Homily
of Pope John Paul II in Limerick, Monday October 1st, 1979)
In these times it is easy to lower our sights as happened in Moses’ times, and as some Pharisees did in Jesus’ time. But we know God’s plan for marriage, that what God has joined together man must not separate. Marriage is a path to holiness; it is a vocation. I conclude now with a brief reminder of some of what Pope John Paul said about marriage in Limerick,
Believe in the spiritual power which this sacrament
of Jesus Christ gives to strengthen the marriage union, and to overcome all the
crises and problems of life together. Married people must believe in the power
of the sacrament to make them holy; they must believe in their vocation to
witness through their marriage to the power of Christ’s love.
(Homily
of Pope John Paul II in Limerick, Monday October 1st, 1979)
Copyright © Fr. Tommy Lane 2003
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More homilies for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday Year B
Married Love 2021
Marriage is a School of Love and Forgiveness
Related Homilies: The Church’s Teaching on Marriage