“There are four things that are too mysterious for me to understand, an eagle flying in the sky, a snake moving on a rock, a ship finding its way over the sea, and a man and a woman falling in love.”
— Proverbs 30: 18-19
What a tremendous joy it was to have my family visit me here in Coraopolis at St. Joseph last weekend. My nieces and nephews love running up and down the rectory’s long stairwell, building forts, playing hide-and-seek and getting out to play in the snow, as it is not too common in the Carolinas.
With a snowman birthday cake, Hostess donuts, bakery cookies, chocolate milk, candy and sweets, my brother Dan dubbed my home “The Sugar Cane Shack.” When we visited Grandma over at the Little Sisters of the Poor one of the children thought that it would be a pretty dull time, but was surprised that he had the time of his life. The staff at the home had chocolate cupcakes, cookies, and refreshments for the children and allowed them to play with the 10-month old Shih Tzu dog “Joey” who happily licked the sweets from the children’s faces. I was touched as the grandchildren kissed Grandma good-bye and she told each of them, “I love you.” Watching this tender scene, I realized that kids always prefer physical presence to our material presents.
It was good to take in an overtime shoot-out victory of the Penguins over the Canadiens. It was difficult to pry those kids from their box seats at the Energy Consol Center to journey home on the snow-covered roads to the rectory. After having ten in the house for a few days, it certainly got quiet quick.
After a weekend with my natural family, we welcomed 77 couples to St. Joseph for Pre-Cana Instructions this Saturday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM at Junior’s Restaurant. They come from such states as Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Louisiana, Colorado and Texas. I am grateful for the eight presenting couples from our home-grown potato patch of St. Joseph Parish who share wisdom, faith, road maps and real-life experiences in the sacrament of marriage. Our presenters include couples of 50, 40, 30, 20, 10 years of marriage -- and newly-wed couples as well.
It is wonderful to see these loving and enthusiastic couples descend upon our community, if only for a short time, to share with younger couples the importance of this step in their lives. Making a life-long commitment to the sacrament of marriage is the single-greatest decision they will make; everything else will pale in comparison. In my presentation entitled “Perspective Pathways to Integration and Flourishment,” I reference the Episcopal Church marriage rite which states, ”Marriage is not to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly; but reverently, deliberately and in accordance with the purposes for which it was intended by God.”
As I spent time with my family last weekend, I was made eternally grateful all the “faith deposits” our parents put into our lives. In my morning prayer of the Divine Office this past Monday, there was a beautiful meditation on the sanctity of marriage and family life that I shared with the couples at our Pre-Cana. I wish to share it with you as well (see below). As these couples join us for 4:00 PM Saturday Mass and the church is filled to the rafters, may this graced-time together be a memorable and meaningful experience for them as they embrace the holy covenant of marriage and our parish family pledges our love, support and prayers for them.
(“Gaudium et Spes”, no. 48)
The Sanctity of Marriage and the Family
Husband and wife, by the covenant of marriage, are no longer two, but one flesh. By their intimate union of persons and of actions they give mutual help and service to each other, experience the meaning of their unity, and gain an ever deeper understanding of it day by day.
This intimate union on the mutual self-giving of two persons, as well as the good of the children, demands full fidelity from both, and an indissoluble unity between them. Christ the Lord has abundantly blessed this richly complex love, which springs from the divine source of love and is founded on the model of his union with the Church.
In earlier times God met his people in a covenant of love and fidelity. So now the Savior of mankind, the Bridegroom of the Church, meets Christian husbands and wives in the sacrament of matrimony. Further, he remains with them in order that, as he loved the Church and gave himself up for her, so husband and wife may, in mutual self-giving, love each other with perpetual fidelity.
True married love is caught up into God’s love; it is guided and enriched by the redeeming power of Christ and the saving action of the Church, in order that the partners may be effectively led to God and receive help and strength in the sublime responsibility of parenthood.
Christian partners are therefore strengthened, and as it were consecrated, by a special sacrament for the duties and the dignity of their state. By the power of this sacrament they fulfill their obligations to each other and to their family and are filled with the spirit of Christ. This spirit pervades their whole lives with faith, hope and love. Thus they promote their own perfection and each other’s sanctification, and so contribute together to the greater glory of God.
Hence, with parents leading the way by example and family prayer, their children — indeed, all within the family circle — will find it easier to make progress in natural virtues, in salvation and in holiness. Husband and wife,, raised to the dignity and the responsibility of parenthood, will be zealous in fulfilling their task as educators, especially in the sphere of religious education, a task that is primarily their own.
Children, as active members of the family, contribute in their own way to the holiness of their parents. With the love of grateful hearts, with loving respect and trust, they will return the generosity of their parents and will stand by them as true sons and daughters when they meet with hardship and the loneliness of old age.
