Church of St. Mary at Clinton Heights

I was watching a movie this past week about the life of St Francis of Assisi.  He was just like the young man of today’s gospel.  Francis had everything.  Good family, money, nice clothes, promising future.  But, as he portrayed in the movie, Francis seems empty; searching for something.  Thinking he would find it in the fame of being a knight, he goes to war.   He gets hurt; in his recovery, his powerlessness, his weakness, he finds Jesus.  Jesus says to the Francis what he said to the rich young man, give it all away and come follow me.  Francis literally find that.  He walked away from all the stuff and found a joy we all envy.  We too can have it it; if we give it all away, become unattached to what we have, don’t worry about tomorrow and put Jesus first, then we can find what Francis found.

In Rome, tomorrow, the Holy Father will canonize Archbishop Oscar Romero.  Oscar was the a bishop in El Salvador in the 1970’s.  Oscar, like the young man and Francis, had it all going for him.  He was a career churchman.  He obeyed all the rules, didn’t create any waves, was low key which is why he was made the Archbishop of El Salvador.  The thought was he wouldn’t cause any problems with the government who was oppressing the poor and those who wanted El Salvador to be a free place not controlled by the very rich who oppressed the poor.  However, like the rich young man and St Francis, Oscar met Jesus: in the life of his priest friend who worked in a poor parish and advocated for the poor who was shot by the government.  Oscar met Jesus when he gave up all the power and wealth he had and walked among the poor and became their voice.  He found Jesus in a prison cell surrounded by the cries of those who the government was trying to silence.  Oscar was shot celebrating Mass at the hospital he served as chaplain.

Like the rich young man, Francis and Oscar, Jesus looks like on us with love….a love that sees what is ensnaring us from following him.  For the rich young man, it was money; for Francis, it was prestige and fame; for Oscar, it was fear and the desire to keep the status quo; what is Jesus showing you and me to give up to follow him?  I remember saying to someone one day when I knew I needed to let go of something in my life that I didn’t want to: What more does He want?  My friend answered: Everything

This is the risk of knowing Jesus.  The place to start is to ask yourself what cant I live without and see what pops us.  What has society told me I need or I wont be complete?  What does advertisements tell me that I absolutely need to be happy?

  He wants everything and he doesn’t stop pursuing us.  If we give away everything we become free.  He want all of us and nothing more.

 

Prayer of St Ignatius Loyola

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,

my memory, my understanding,

and my entire will,

All I have and call my own.

 

You have given all to me.

To you, Lord, I return it.

 

Everything is yours; do with it what you will.

Give me only your love and your grace,

that is enough for me.

To get to the heart of today’s gospel, we must go back to the first century church of Mark.  Marriage was not about two people in love, romance , the wedding day, or even about the couple.  A marriage was arraigned by the parents as a way to unite two families.  One commentator put it this way:  no one chooses their parents but God, God chooses the spouse through the parents. The union of the families was for a variety of reasons, never love.  A divorce was seen as shame to both families, in particular, the bride’s family.  For her to be rejected by her husband was an affront to her father, brothers, etc.  In a society that often devalued a woman, we see one way in which she was honored.  To be rejected by her husband, her family would avenge the shame, often though blood feuds.

So how does this apply to our lives today?  The answer is found in Genesis in the creation of man and woman.  God created woman from the side of man….as his equal.  In the nuptial blessing of the wedding Mass, this is part of the prayer we could miss…”May her husband entrust his heart to her, so that acknowledging her as his equal and joint heir to the life of grace”.   The relationship of two people living in marriage is not about one having more power; the type of power that abuses…emotionally, physically, psychologically, in fact, this is so against what marriage is to be, that the abused woman or man should leave that marriage because it is so against what God intends.  Sometimes the two people are not able to make it work and the love dies.  The relationship of two people in marriage is a reflection of God’s love for us, His people.  This best definition of Christian love is found in 1 Corinthians 13,  “Love is patient and kind, etc.  If a marital relationship is not reflecting this, then the marriage is in trouble, in the Christian sense.

A Christian couple is called by God, the Father of all, to witness to all people the love that the Father has for each us.  At this Eucharist today, let us pray for all those who live in marriage that God will bless their union with his grace and peace.  Let us pray for all those are contemplating Christian marriage that they will be blessed in their life together.  Let us also prayer for those marriages in difficulty that they will experience healing.  Finally, may we remember all woman and men who have been or are in domestic violence situations.  For their healing and peace of mind and for the strength to find a way out of the abuse.