Pastor's Corner
February 11, 2018
Twenty eight years ago, Worldwide Marriage Encounter began encouraging a celebration of marriage on the second Sunday of February. In 1983 it was designated World Marriage Day as a day to honor the husband and wife as head of the family, the basic unit of society. It salutes the beauty of their faithfulness, sacrifice and joy in daily married life.
Anyone who is married knows that marriage is hard. Living in community with seven other friars – all men who have committed themselves to following Christ and serving others – is hard, too. At least from time to time we get reassigned to other communities! The difficulties inherent in marriage and religious life follow from the fact that we are sinners in need of ongoing conversion.
I am convinced that a good marriage is healing for both of the spouses emotionally and spiritually. In marriage, as in religious life, one has the opportunity to learn how to give without demanding reciprocity. Both vocations are opportunities to love as God loves. In his encyclical, Humane Vitae, Pope Paul VI wrote, “married love particularly reveals its true nature and nobility when we realize that it takes its origin from God, who ‘is love’” (no. 8).
We are capable of loving like God only with God’s grace. That’s why marriage in the Church is important. The couple is prepared for marriage, and given grace by God to live as a sacrament - as instruments of God and vehicles of his grace for each other, their children and the community.
Marriage is good for society! Married men and women have more wealth and financial stability. Those who are in a stable marriage live longer lives and have better health and personal happiness, and children raised by a mom and dad perform better in school and have less trouble with the law, teen pregnancy, and addiction. We have single parents in our congregation because of separation or divorce, the death of a spouse, or because of immigration of one parent. They need our support, encouragement and prayer, too.
I recommend the website www.foryourmarriage.org for married couples. It is an initiative of the US bishops and has information for engaged couples, tips for better marriages, parenting insights, and resources for second marriages. Take a look, and share the site with others.