Saturday March 17, 2007
Saturday of the Third Week of Lent
March 17, 2007
“Let us strive to know the Lord.”
Hosea 6:3
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Fr. John on the Radio- Fr. John will be giving a daily Lenten Reflection in Portland, Oregon on KBVM 88.3 FM at 9 AM and 1 PM each day during Lent until Easter. Tune in if you wish.
I started one weekend homily by asking all those married five years or less how many hours they had put into the planning of their wedding. Usually, it was the woman who put in the most time and I got answers anywhere from fifty hours to over 200 hours. The point I was driving at is that we put a lot of time into preparing for the wedding day and the wedding day is just a day. Yes, it should be beautiful and celebratory, but why go through all the worry, stress and mess that can happen in trying to make the day so perfect and pronounced?
A few hours after Saturday Vigil Mass, I was talking to a recently married couple who do not go to my church and getting their feedback on my homily. I was moving to make the point that we put an awful lot of time into the externals of a wedding day and that it is just one day and that marriage is thousands of days in a lifetime that are to be filled with beauty. As I was talking about all the time we can put into the wedding, the wife said, “Of course we put all that time into it. It is the most important day in my life.” I disagreed immediately but I did not say anything about it- until my three homilies the next day.
Your wedding day is not the most important day of your life. The “Most Important Day” of your life is when you meet Jesus Christ! To really know Jesus Christ is to know we are forgiven. To know Jesus Christ is to know eternal life. A wedding day does not give us eternal life- Jesus Christ does. Your spouse is not your Savior- Jesus is.
How do we get to thinking that the wedding day is the “Most Important Day?” Who is the teacher teaching this false teaching? It is the culture. However, the culture often lies about what is true and good and lasting. But see what sway the culture has in convincing so many people that the wedding day is the “Most Important Day” and we better pour out our hearts into it. Believing this sway of the culture is silly and dangerous and can lead to a lot of destruction and divorce.
The “Most Important Day” is when you meet Jesus Christ. If you have not met Jesus Christ, you have not had the “Most Important Day” of your life and you want to get there. What if couples who are preparing for marriage put as much time and heart into getting to know Jesus as individuals and couples as they put into making the wedding day a gorgeous external experience? What if a wedding was all about striving to discover the love of God which makes all things beautiful and, without which, nothing remains beautiful?
The “Most Important Day” in your life is when you meet Jesus Christ. And the next most important day is when you meet him more fully in prayer, relationships, the sacraments, serving the poor, etc. And so on, forever. What if all married couples, what if all of us believed in the “Most Important Day?”
Live the confronted life!
+Fr. John
I started one weekend homily by asking all those married five years or less how many hours they had put into the planning of their wedding. Usually, it was the woman who put in the most time and I got answers anywhere from fifty hours to over 200 hours. The point I was driving at is that we put a lot of time into preparing for the wedding day and the wedding day is just a day. Yes, it should be beautiful and celebratory, but why go through all the worry, stress and mess that can happen in trying to make the day so perfect and pronounced?
A few hours after Saturday Vigil Mass, I was talking to a recently married couple who do not go to my church and getting their feedback on my homily. I was moving to make the point that we put an awful lot of time into the externals of a wedding day and that it is just one day and that marriage is thousands of days in a lifetime that are to be filled with beauty. As I was talking about all the time we can put into the wedding, the wife said, “Of course we put all that time into it. It is the most important day in my life.” I disagreed immediately but I did not say anything about it- until my three homilies the next day.
Your wedding day is not the most important day of your life. The “Most Important Day” of your life is when you meet Jesus Christ! To really know Jesus Christ is to know we are forgiven. To know Jesus Christ is to know eternal life. A wedding day does not give us eternal life- Jesus Christ does. Your spouse is not your Savior- Jesus is.
How do we get to thinking that the wedding day is the “Most Important Day?” Who is the teacher teaching this false teaching? It is the culture. However, the culture often lies about what is true and good and lasting. But see what sway the culture has in convincing so many people that the wedding day is the “Most Important Day” and we better pour out our hearts into it. Believing this sway of the culture is silly and dangerous and can lead to a lot of destruction and divorce.
The “Most Important Day” is when you meet Jesus Christ. If you have not met Jesus Christ, you have not had the “Most Important Day” of your life and you want to get there. What if couples who are preparing for marriage put as much time and heart into getting to know Jesus as individuals and couples as they put into making the wedding day a gorgeous external experience? What if a wedding was all about striving to discover the love of God which makes all things beautiful and, without which, nothing remains beautiful?
The “Most Important Day” in your life is when you meet Jesus Christ. And the next most important day is when you meet him more fully in prayer, relationships, the sacraments, serving the poor, etc. And so on, forever. What if all married couples, what if all of us believed in the “Most Important Day?”
Live the confronted life!
+Fr. John
posted by Patti @ 7:15 AM
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