Homily – October 4, 2015 (The Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time - B)
Readings: Genesis 2: 18-24; Psalm 128: 1-6; Hebrews 2: 9-11; Mark 10: 2-16
Today is the Feast of St. Francis. Francis loved creation! Francis loved the poor! Francis loved peace! Our own Holy Father, Pope Francis visited our country last week, and challenged us to continue the dialogue around these very three things!
Interestingly enough, I heard a song this week that caught my attention. It personified the morning as a person seeing God's light for the first time, and in a way provides us with a good introduction to the message in today's readings, as we are called to embrace God's intimacy.
Seeing God at work can be very intimidating I'm sure. So much so, that it makes us run and hide. But when stop and truly look at the joy of all that it is, we can't help but kneel down and just smile.
There are two versions of the Creation Story in Genesis. The first and most popular one, lays out all the facts and the order of all that had happen in those seven days as God created His world. The second story of creation, from which today's first reading is taken, focuses more on the intimate details of God's relationship with all that he had created, especially US. After He created everything, and had given "man" dominion over it all, "the LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him…” And He did just that. "The LORD God built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man, the man said, and these are the first words uttered by a human being in the Scripture, "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh." Trees are wonderful, and beaches are beautiful, and mountains are majestic, animals are fascinating, but God does not want us to be alone. "That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh."
And with that scripture, many a marriage has begun, as God brings together man and wife to become one in the love of the Lord, and by His will to create a loving family, that emphasis in the first story of creation on the gift of procreation. But today's focus on our not being alone adds the equally important gift of human relationship, more than physical, but also spiritual! So today, we can continue with the theme that our hearts should be open to God's love as he shared it with us, so that we know that we are not alone, we are loved as family, and we must be willing to share that love!
The love of God is real for us all, married or not, as we too are not meant to be alone! Like that first day in the Garden, God sends us a “Help Mate” in our spouse, in our friends, and in those who venture into our lives to truly make a difference in sharing in the joys and sorrows that come with each new day.
The love of family has elements of that strong and unbreakable bond. Marriage vows, promises to that new born baby held tightly in the arms of a mother, efforts be at the school soccer game, and the willingness to just sit and be together when times are tough. This is the bond that makes us one. It helps us grow stronger together, never to be broken. The ideal family setting is defined in the prayer of today's Psalm: May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives… Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the recesses of your home; your children like olive plants around your table. St. Paul says in today's second reading, that this bond, and this family includes Jesus Christ, our Lord, for he is the leader of our salvation, made perfect through suffering. He who consecrates and those who are being consecrated all have one origin. Therefore, he is not ashamed to call them “brothers.”
But frankly, all marriages and families are not perfect, and bonds are broken and promises are sometimes left unkept. That is why when probed by the Pharisees on the subject of divorce, Jesus said, “Because of the hardness of your hearts," laws were written... More aptly put, because of the fragile nature of your humanity, the reality of imperfection, and our propensity to make mistakes, we have evolved into having to live with broken vows and broken promises, while embracing ways to reconcile and learn to love in a deeper more profound way. Notice how Christ is quick to remind them of the ideal taught in Genesis, and asks all to consider embracing the simple love and trust of a child.
Divorce and Annulments are not the law's way of saying GOTCHA. They are necessary realities for some, as we are all afforded the opportunity to recognize challenges, and commit to starting again... It's called RECONCILIATION!
So the Good News is:
St. Francis wanted peace and simplicity as he loved creation and the poor! Today, it seems that we are all being called to become people of peace and simplicity who should love the poor and creation!
The first morning to have ever seen the sun must have run the other way.
But in spite of her fear, she finally spun around to behold
the sweet light rising through the trees.
She fell to her knees and she began to smile, because
she had been in darkness for a long long while.
(A Paraphrased Lyric from the song "Nothing I Can Do" by Ben Taylor)
Nothing I Can Do by Ben Taylor
There are two versions of the Creation Story in Genesis. The first and most popular one, lays out all the facts and the order of all that had happen in those seven days as God created His world. The second story of creation, from which today's first reading is taken, focuses more on the intimate details of God's relationship with all that he had created, especially US. After He created everything, and had given "man" dominion over it all, "the LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him…” And He did just that. "The LORD God built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man, the man said, and these are the first words uttered by a human being in the Scripture, "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh." Trees are wonderful, and beaches are beautiful, and mountains are majestic, animals are fascinating, but God does not want us to be alone. "That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh."
And with that scripture, many a marriage has begun, as God brings together man and wife to become one in the love of the Lord, and by His will to create a loving family, that emphasis in the first story of creation on the gift of procreation. But today's focus on our not being alone adds the equally important gift of human relationship, more than physical, but also spiritual! So today, we can continue with the theme that our hearts should be open to God's love as he shared it with us, so that we know that we are not alone, we are loved as family, and we must be willing to share that love!
The love of God is real for us all, married or not, as we too are not meant to be alone! Like that first day in the Garden, God sends us a “Help Mate” in our spouse, in our friends, and in those who venture into our lives to truly make a difference in sharing in the joys and sorrows that come with each new day.
The love of family has elements of that strong and unbreakable bond. Marriage vows, promises to that new born baby held tightly in the arms of a mother, efforts be at the school soccer game, and the willingness to just sit and be together when times are tough. This is the bond that makes us one. It helps us grow stronger together, never to be broken. The ideal family setting is defined in the prayer of today's Psalm: May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives… Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the recesses of your home; your children like olive plants around your table. St. Paul says in today's second reading, that this bond, and this family includes Jesus Christ, our Lord, for he is the leader of our salvation, made perfect through suffering. He who consecrates and those who are being consecrated all have one origin. Therefore, he is not ashamed to call them “brothers.”
But frankly, all marriages and families are not perfect, and bonds are broken and promises are sometimes left unkept. That is why when probed by the Pharisees on the subject of divorce, Jesus said, “Because of the hardness of your hearts," laws were written... More aptly put, because of the fragile nature of your humanity, the reality of imperfection, and our propensity to make mistakes, we have evolved into having to live with broken vows and broken promises, while embracing ways to reconcile and learn to love in a deeper more profound way. Notice how Christ is quick to remind them of the ideal taught in Genesis, and asks all to consider embracing the simple love and trust of a child.
Divorce and Annulments are not the law's way of saying GOTCHA. They are necessary realities for some, as we are all afforded the opportunity to recognize challenges, and commit to starting again... It's called RECONCILIATION!
So the Good News is:
- In His creation, God does not want us to be alone, thus provides us with the blessing of intimate relationships…
- Intimacy here is the being of one flesh (family).
- This intimate connectedness allows us to love and work together.
- The fruit of our handiwork are the joys and blessings that strengthen our family.
- The family flourishes and thrives like a healthy vine or an olive plant.
- This same intimacy can be realized with Christ, as he leads us to salvation!
- We are united to Him through His humanity, hence we call Him “brother.”
- We remain intimately connected to Him in His divinity in our partaking of and living out the Eucharist.
St. Francis wanted peace and simplicity as he loved creation and the poor! Today, it seems that we are all being called to become people of peace and simplicity who should love the poor and creation!
The Prayer of St. Francis
"Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.
O, Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; it is in dying that we are born again to eternal life.
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