Scripture:
Ezekiel 16:1-15, 60, 63 or 16:59-63
Matthew 19:3-12
Reflection:
The Word of God for us today is meditation on the sacredness of a covenant, especially as regards marriage. It is a plea to encourage, affirm, pardon and be faithful to every marriage relationship in your life. Whether you are single, married, or, vowed in religious life, I believe that it is our responsibility to pay attention to and pray for the married couples in our life.
This is our sacred task and responsibility to verbally acknowledge the importance of what two people must do to maintain their faithful love.
We are actually working in cooperation with God, the source of all genuine love and grace, when we affirm, encourage and reinforce every marital commitment with whom we come in contact. Is it not God who declares today in the Word that “I will re-establish my covenant with you, that you may know that I am the Lord that you may remember and be covered with confusion, and that you may be utterly silenced for shame when I pardon you for all you had done, says the Lord God…” (Ezek. 16:63)
I am suggesting something that is counter to the American culture where love is the most misunderstood and misinterpreted word in a loveless age.
In the words of Catherine de Hueck Doherty, foundress of Madonna House Apostolate, in Combermere, Canada, “If we want to restore the world to Christ, we must first clarify what marriage really is to a world that has forgotten the very meaning of the word love, let alone that sanctity of marital love.
I suggest that we act upon our meditation today and every day, with the deliberate and intentional act of acknowledging the importance of each sacred relationship in whose presence we encounter. Maybe you will get their attention as to who and what is most important, and you will make their day! At least you got their attention!
Make this a pleasing act to God, as God is able to heal, enlighten and transform each relationship with whom we come in contact.
Fr. Alex Steinmiller, C.P., is a member of the Passionist Community in Detroit, Michigan.