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Tag: Sacrament of Marriage

  • NOT ALONE BUT PARTNERS FOR LIFE

    NOT ALONE BUT PARTNERS FOR LIFE

    October 6, 2024 – 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100624.cfm)

    What would make marriages last long? What would keep a wife and a husband to stay together? Love? Faithfulness? Commitment? Sacrifice? Faith in God? What would also destroy marriages? What would make a wife and a husband separate from one another after committing to love each other? Unfaithfulness? Hatred? Abuse? Vices? Anger?

    Certainly, there are many angles and aspects in the life of married people that we have to recognize and understand in order to better accompany, guide, nurture and develop such relationship that is very important both in our Church and in the society at large.

    According to an author, he identified top 10 reasons of marriage breakups[1]. But here, I will just mention the first 5 reasons. According to him, these first five reasons are namely, first, immaturity of one or both spouses. Second is clashes of personalities. Third is money issues. Fourth is interference by in-laws and commonly by mothers-in-law. And fifth is domestic abuse and violence against spouses which may be physical, emotional or psychological.

    These tell us why the Absolute Divorce Bill in our country is being pushed in congress because the recent law that we have make marriage difficult to annul. Though this push is not theological in nature but on availability, accessibility and as easy way out of those whose marriages were problematic, yet, it also fundamentally attacks the sanctity of marriage as our Catholic teachings remind us.

    Moreover, aside from these causes of breakups in marriages, there is also another aspect and reason and slowly weakens the importance of marriage. According to a survey conducted by Radio Veritas[2] there are about 45 percent of Filipino Catholics who believed that marriage is not necessary before people could live together. This means that there is a common belief now that living together outside marriage is normal and getting married in the Church is not that important.

    However, despite these reasons and scenarios in marriage, these do not diminish the beauty and wonder of marriage life. I am sure many couples who in spite of the many struggles and countless arguments and hurts they encountered, have chosen to stay together and committed once again to love each other until death will set them apart.

    This is what our readings have revealed today on this 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time. And so, let us revisit the sacred scripture proclaimed to us today and see how God unfolds the call for us to protect, nurture and develop the Sacrament of Marriage.

    The Book of Genesis portrays to us how God realized the complementarity of man and woman. This is expressed as the Lord God said, “It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him.” Man and woman, in marriage, are called to be partners, to complement each other.

    The connection of both has also been made more significant as the Book of Genesis told us how the completeness of both is discovered in each one. This means that the rib taken out from the man completes the woman, and the husband who is called to cling to his wife finds his fullness. This is how the two become one flesh, united in love.

    This partnership of man and woman is further elaborated in the Psalm where husband and wife finds delight in their relationship at home whose marriage is centered not on their personal pleasure, but in the glory of God revealed in their marriage. This is how we can sing joyfully, “May the Lord bless us all the days of our life.”

    In this way, we also understand better that marriage is not merely a human initiative but God’s divine plan for the world to bring glory. The Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, “for whom (Christ) and through whom (Christ) all things exist in bringing many children to glory.” This means again that marriage is also not a mundane human relationship but it is destined to bring and reveal the glory of God in our homes, communities and the world.

    This is what Jesus brought out in today’s Gospel. He was asked by the Pharisees on the lawfulness of divorce in which at that time divorce was allowed in that culture and time. However, that time only men were allowed to divorce their wives. This was something that was already problematic and unfair.

    Hence, Jesus in response to that  question went to the heart of the matter and identified the very reason why divorce was only allowed. It was through the “hardness of your hearts.” Again, divorce was only allowed as an easy way out for people yet, it does not solve the main problem or the root cause on why marriage was breaking down.

    The hardness of the heart is seasoned by indifference and selfishness in marriage, by manipulation, abuse and violence, by our immaturity and unpreparedness, by our desire to be above and to dominate, by our greed for self-pleasure and of a heart that nurtures hatred.

    However, this is not what God intended marriage to be. The Lord God designed and planned that woman and man will be partners all their life not competitors. Husband and wife are called to complement each one, to help and nurture each one, to develop and support one another.

    That is the reason why marriage is not just a mere human union or human agreement of being together, but a sacrament, a sacred relationship centered on God who called a husband and wife to live together for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish until death will set you apart. Amen. Hinaut pa.

    [1] https://www.philstar.com/the-freeman/opinion/2021/08/30/2123595/top-10-causes-marriage-break-ups

    [2] https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1556351/pinoy-faith-in-marriage-slips

  • One-winged Angels

    One-winged Angels

    October 6, 2024 – 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

    Click here for the readings (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/100624.cfm)

    A wise man once said, “Each one of us are angels… But, with one wing. We can only fly by embracing each other.” Reflecting on these words, such wisdom somehow reflects our daily experience and journey of being human and Christian in this life. Human as we are, these words of wisdom affirm our being HOLY – our promise and desire to be holy and sacred in life, as somewhat angel-like. But Holy may we be, these words also reveal our being HUMAN – our limitations and constraints to become holy in life, as one-winged angel.

    “Angels with one wing” somehow describes our aspirations and our frustrations of being and becoming Human and Holy in this life, and highlights our experience of loneliness – of being alone in life, and our need for one another as well. However, as these words of wisdom suggest we can only fulfill our longing for sacredness in our human nature, by way of flying via embracing each other.

    This calls for us then not to be weighed down by our human limits, but to fly – that is to resolve and commit ourselves to rise up and respond to the occasion and chance to become angels in life. And also this calls us to do the flying together in relationship along and with one another. In other words, we are inter-related. (Magkaugnay). Only by flying-journeying with others – not by walking alone, each and all of us can reach the destination we are promised and we longed for in life, as “angels with one wing.”

    Surely our readings today can teach us a lot of things about our life-experiences of being Holy & Human. But aside from the themes of creation, marriage, divorce, adultery, parents and children, our readings today are all about our human need to have a committed relationship in life, i.e. to be in covenant relationship with God and with One another.

    We are told in our first reading today that as God created us, He also sees our human need to have a partner in life for “It is not good for man to be alone” and even animals and pets are not enough for us. He ensures a suitable human partner for us in life, so that we can leave our parents and be with our God-given partner in life.

    God thus has created us not to be alone and/or be with our parents, but to be with our own God-Given suitable partners, for us to live the life God has created us to be. Jesus in our gospel today reminds us not to block and be a hindrance in letting ourselves and others to come to God and live the life God has called us to be, and challenge us to remain faithful and steadfast in our relationship with one another as we live our life-mission God has called us to be as well.

    Both readings give importance to our human need to have and be in a committed relationship as God sees & wills it. More than just having a friendly, convenient, and secure relationship in life, God appreciates that we, human as we are, should be committed to the life God has chosen us to be, and to live such-committed life in relationship with our own suitable partner God has destined us to be with.

    In other words, though with one wing, we should be angels – flying, coming to God’s glory, rising up and committing to the occasion to live the life God has called us to be, and by means of interdependence, embracingly flying/journeying in relationship with our God-given suitable partners in life.

    Perhaps beyond our concerns for our civil status or even FB Profile status, whether we are Single-Married, in relationship, in love or complicated, we should moreso ask ourselves, “Am I committed to the life God has called me now to be? Am I also in a covenant-relationship with my God-given suitable partner in the journey?” Simply asked, “Am I committed and committing to where I am going and with-whom I am going with toward the life God has chosen me and us to be?”

    Nowadays we hear loud noises proclaiming “Walang Forever”, i.e. there is no promise of forever, eternity, constancy and always in life. True it may be for those who cannot commit, who refuse to rise to the occasion but be remain burdened by their limits and choose to be on their own and alone in their own life-struggles, still dependent on their own parents and others.

    But “There is forever, always, and eternal life”… for commit-able people, people who can commit, still committed and committing to live the life God has chosen them to be and to the partner they are to be with. We could say also that committed relationships are measured by faithfulness & not by success, for our journey in life is not about gaining heights but moreso about remaining steadfast/faithful in our efforts to fly & journey along with others.

    Though not of this world but in this world, Christian and human as we are, we are Holy and Sacred for we are also God’s children and Jesus’ brothers and sisters. And difficult it may be, we can always be holy and sacred in this life, if and whenever we commit to the life God has called us to be and to the suitable partner God has given us to be with.

    Again as the saying goes: “Each one of us are angels… But, with one wing. We can only fly by embracing each other.” With these words, may we learn and grow with holiness despite our human limits, in our Christian lives today. Amen.