Humbly submit your will to God (Thy Will be done) and consecrate yourself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus through Mary.
Jesus came into the district of Judea and across the Jordan.
Again crowds gathered around him and, as was his custom,
he again taught them.
The Pharisees approached him and asked,
“Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?”
They were testing him.
He said to them in reply, “What did Moses command you?”
They replied,
“Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce
and dismiss her.”
But Jesus told them,
“Because of the hardness of your hearts
he wrote you this commandment.
But from the beginning of creation, 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,
no human being must separate.”
In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about this.
He said to them,
“Whoever divorces his wife and marries another
commits adultery against her;
and if she divorces her husband and marries another,
she commits adultery.” MK 10:1-12
Today’s Gospel is the Truth about why God made marriage. Love is a very confusing word in our world. We often believe we get married because we love each other. This is true but Fr. Barron’s blog points out an even greater truth that took me a lot of time to recognize and understand in my own marriage.
“When I was doing parish work I would invariably ask young couples, “Why do you want to get married in church?” Most would say something like, “Because we love each other.” But I would reply, “Well, that’s no reason to get married in church.”
They usually looked stunned, but I meant it. You come to church to be married before God and his people when you are convinced that your marriage is not, finally, about you; that it is about God and about serving God’s purposes; that it is, as much as the priesthood of a priest, a vocation, a sacred calling.”-Fr. Barron
We are called to serve. God first and then others. How often I screw up serving those closest to me. I forget my calling in my vocation of marriage in my everyday life. Relationships are difficult. Many people may get married outside the Church to fulfill psychological, emotional, and sexual desires or needs. When getting married inside the Church, we make a decision to love and forgive, to serve, like Christ did on the cross for us. There will be many trials and many joys. There will be much suffering and many blessings. We will need to learn how to fail. We will then learn to pray persistently. We will start to begin to understand what forgiveness is and that we will need to ask for it often. I have to ask God the Father to give me the grace to forgive like He forgives me. This is the hardest thing for me.
Marriage is where we learn not to judge. I have learned that everyone is suffering something and every person is struggling with sin (especially those right next to you). We need to stop judging and be more compassionate. God is trying to bring your spouse, mom, dad, girlfriend, boyfriend, brothers and sisters to heaven. He is trying to transform each and every person. There is no 50/50 in a marriage, you learn to work together to get what needs to be finished, finished. This is grace; getting something you did not deserve and giving without expecting anything in return. A free gift. Grace is God’s gift to us. It is necessary in marriage for it to work. We learn how to set boundaries and respect each other’s no’s. We learn who we are and who God is. Most importantly, we learn that if we don’t keep God in the center of the relationship it doesn’t work or we continue to go in vicious circles. It requires change. Most importantly, there will be a great need for God’s grace. God’s grace is the only thing that can bring us to holiness in our mission to fulfill our heart’s greatest desire, heaven.
What I have learned is that working together and suffering together brings people extremely close to God and each other. This is one of the greatest joys of the vocation of marriage.
Today’s challenge: Trust in God’s purpose for marriage. It will bring the greatest joy. Fight for your marriage, society and the world depend on it.
Be a servant, become a saint!
#Christian YOLO
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