Homily for Ordinary Time – 27th Sunday Year B 2015
Genesis 2:18-24; Hebrews 2:9-11; Mark 10:2-16
Introduction
The story is told of Hernando Cortés, the
Spanish Conquistador, who arrived with his army on the shores of what is now
Mexico. Even though he had more advanced
weapons, compared to the Aztecs his army was rather small.
And so, legend has it that after his men
got ashore, Cortés told them to burn the ships that brought them from Spain. In
doing this, he wanted his men to understand fully that their only options were
to win or die – there would be no retreat, no plan B. Knowing that their
options were life or death, the Spanish army would fight with more
determination and commitment.
Scripture and Theology
Commitment is the message of today's
readings, particularly commitment in marriage.
"It
is not good for the man to be alone," God says in Genesis. "I will make a suitable partner for him." From the very beginning, God wanted man and
woman to be companions committed to each other.
According to God’s plan, the journey of life, with its ups and downs,
must be travelled with a lifelong, equal partner. That is why, as someone put it, woman was
created in this way:
The woman was made of a rib out of the side
of Adam; not made out of his head to rule over him, nor out of his feet to be
trampled upon by him, but out of his side to be equal with him, under his arm
to be protected, and near his heart to be beloved.
God expects man and woman, therefore, to
live in mutual love, caring for and supporting each other as equal companions,
in a lifetime commitment.
These two partners, man and woman, are different
sexes so that they can complement each other.
That is why Genesis said: "A
man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them
become one flesh." The man and
woman don't bring half and half, so as to make one; but in a different kind of
mathematics, they each bring 1 plus 1, to make one flesh. They bring to the table of marriage, the
whole of themselves, different but complete and full.
An experience with some married friends
recently provided a window into this unique commitment of marriage. I was at a reception when this lady announced
that she had to leave early, to go and give her husband his dinner. I asked her
why? Could he not make dinner for
himself? He has hands and can cook - I
know that because I have eaten some of his cooking and it was good. But she insisted that she had been away from
home for most of the day; she just had to go and take care of her husband, that
man for whom she left her father and mother and to whom she clings for the rest
of her life.
When asked about marriage and divorce in
the gospel, Jesus does not have to reinvent the wheel; he simply repeats what
we just heard from Genesis. In the very nature of man and woman, God wished them
to have a lifetime committed relationship of love. Jesus says that Moses allowed divorce, only because
of the hardness of their hearts; it was a temporary fix for an imperfect
situation. Now that God has revealed
himself fully in Jesus Christ, things are different. “. . . what
God has joined together [in marriage],
no human being must separate."
Christian Life
And yet separation and divorce are part of
us today. Nearly 50% of marriages in
general and 30% of Catholic marriages end up in divorce. These are painful situations for all involved,
spouses, children, even friends. I know
this pain, since my parents separated when I was only six years old. These are some of the themes that the
Catholic bishops of the world are discussing in Rome, starting this Sunday at
the Synod on the family.
During last year's Synod on the same topic,
many of us were disturbed by what we heard on the media. This year, if we want to understand what is
really going on, we must bypass Fox News and MSNBC and go straight to the
horse's mouth, the Vatican website or the bishop's website. We will hear two consistent messages about family
and marriage: commitment and care of families.
First, commitment is the cornerstone of
marriage and family, as we have just heard in both Genesis and the teaching of
Jesus. Pope Francis spoke so
passionately about this commitment during his visit to Philadelphia, to the
world meeting of families. Pope Francis
reminds us that such lifelong commitment of a man and woman only when think
beyond our own desires and wants and when we bring God into the picture.
But the Pope also warns that such lifelong
commitment in marriage struggles to survive in a culture like ours that prefers
making provisional, temporary choices.
·
For example, our throwaway
culture does not have keepsakes from childhood or precious heirlooms from
grandma; we prefer selfies and the disposable and we just buy more and more. How can we live lifelong commitment?
·
In a culture that adores only
the useful and immediate, we throw away the elderly because we don't see them
as useful anymore; we throw away babies in the womb and ignore the poor and
vulnerable, because they interfere with our lives. How can we live lifelong commitment?
Despite these obstacles, Pope Francis asks
us not to be afraid to make life commitments, commitments like marriage or the
priesthood or religious life, that take up our entire life. This is the first message that the Synod of Bishops
will keep reminding us.
The second message we shall hear from the Bishops
is that the Church cares for the sad situation of marriages and families that are
in trouble. That is why the Church has different
ways to help these situations.
1.
There are programs before
marriage, like the “Day for the Engaged,” and Pre-Cana programs, to help couples
to understand the lifetime commitment that marriage is and burn all their other
ships before the wedding day.
2.
There are also programs for the
marriage itself, like Marriage Encounter, in which couples attempt to discover
or re-discover their commitment.
3.
And then in those unfortunate
situations of break-up, the Church attempts to deal with each situation
accordingly. In some cases a temporary
separation is proposed. In other cases, we
have the process of annulment, which Pope Francis recently streamlined. This process is not Catholic divorce; it
simply tries to find out if the basic elements of marriage, such as freedom
where absent from the get-go. This
annulment process does not end a
marriage; it only declares that the marriage commitment was never there
in the first place.
And so the Church teaches lifelong
commitment as it also cares for disturbed marriages and families.
Conclusion
We are
fortunate to have among us many exemplary couples who have been married for 40,
50, even 60 years. One thing that all of them often say is that it was not
always easy; there were ups and downs.
But what kept them going was the realization that marriage was a
lifelong commitment.
Such
couples deserve our admiration and appreciation for their lifelong commitment; but what kind
of gift can you give them on their anniversary?
Certainly not more socks or sweaters or mugs - they have enough! Let me suggest something else. There is a department in the Vatican called
the "Office of Papal Charities."
One of the things they do is issue Papal Blessing parchments. Why not acquire such a gift and have the Pope
bless mum and dad, grandma and grandpa or that older couple that you know? In
this way, their example of lifelong commitment will inspire your own
commitment, whether it is in marriage or something else.
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