October 2, 2024

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Dear Parishioners,

Today’s readings invite us to contemplate the mystery and the gift of the sacrament of marriage, and its importance for the world. 

Our first reading begins with God's own words: It is not good for the man to be alone. In response to this fundamental need of the man, God forms one who is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. 

God made us for a relationship with him and with one another and calls us to a unity that is described as nothing less than one flesh. Jesus emphasizes the reality of what marriage truly is in today’s Gospel. 

Marriage is something God has done and does. We often think of marriage as something a couple does – they “get married.” And while it is true that in this sacrament, each person is the minister of the sacrament to the other, the relationship within matrimony is what God has joined together. 

Every sacrament, in fact, is God’s work made tangible, knowable to our senses. The couple participates in this work, the couple must consent to this work, the couple even makes this work tangible to one another in speaking their vows, but it is God’s gift. 

God is always faithful. In every sacrament God pours out his grace, acting as he has promised to act through the material signs of each sacrament. And in these sacraments we receive this grace, and open ourselves more fully to the gift already given. 

Ah, but we all know the heartbreaking reality into which Jesus speaks. Divorce, brokenness, and separation are still possible and all too present. 

There is a deep challenge here. But there is also good news. God has united married persons as one flesh, and he wants to give every married person the love needed to live this reality. 

But today’s message is not only for those who are married. To love rightly and justly is to imitate the love of God who created us and who is united with us through his Son. This love is meant to be the foundation of every human relationship. Although it has a particular form and expression in marriage, the self- giving, self-sacrificial, other-directed nature of love is what we are commanded to undertake in following the Lord, in all things.

How do we love those God has placed in our life? Through participation with his grace in the sacraments. In the gift of the Eucharist we receive, may we be given the grace we need to love as Jesus commands. 

Another good way to start loving those in our lives is by praying for them. Next weekend would be a great opportunity to put that in practice by praying in front of the Blessed Sacrament as we begin our 40 Hours devotions as a parish family. Immediately following the 11:30 Mass next Sunday, the Blessed Sacrament will be exposed until after our devotions at 7:00 PM. It will then be exposed after the 8:30 AM morning Mass and remain exposed until after our devotions at 7:00 PM on Monday and Tuesday. I have asked Rev. John Babowitch, pastor of Our Lady of Calvary, to come and lead us in these devotions each night. I pray you take some time, no matter how little, to pray for someone you love.

God Love Ya!

Fr. Reilly