+ Taking a look at the readings for today's Mass, we can certainly say" "What in the world do these have to do with the secular celebration of Valentine's Day, and the Church's celebration of World Marriage Day on top of that? Well, actually, quite a bit, if we dig deep, and open our eyes and ears of faith!
The first reading puts some cards right out on the table: "cursed is the one who trusts in human beings: he is like a barren bush in the desert;" but then it goes on to say: "blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord: he will prosper like a tree planted near water." The response for the psalm puts it the same way: "Blessed are they who hope in the Lord." If our trust and hope are in the only source that can reward and fulfill them, then we will have all we need, come what may, in our lives. If God is the object of our trust and hope, then we can get through anything – anything at all, either as a single person, or as a married couple – especially a couple whose marriage has been blessed by the Catholic Church. Very special graces and helps are given to those receiving the Sacrament of Marriage. (But God does not abandon those at all who for whatever reason are not partaking of such a sacramental blessing at the present time.)
Graces and helps for what, you may ask? Ask any married couple! The Gospel passage can help illuminate this aspect for us. It is actually St. Luke's version of St. Matthew's Sermon on the Mount. But Luke only uses three categories to list the beatitudes, where Matthew uses eight. Luke simply summarizes the necessity of anyone who wants to be included in the Kingdom of Heaven to be actually committed to everything about it, willing to take the risks involved in finding out more and more about it, and actually trying it out, even in the face of ridicule from others. Luke therefore is not talking about classes of people: "the poor" (those who have very little money or social standing); and "the rich" (those who have the money and the social standing)! Everyone, every "class of people," is eligible to get to heaven if they work for it using the same rules – and the rules are these: KEEP YOUR EYES FIXED ON JESUS, HE WANTS ALL OF YOUR ATTENTION, SO HE CAN REDEEM ALL OF YOU, AND THEREFORE TAKE ALL OF YOU TO HEAVEN to live forever with him – BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU! This is an amazing love story, good for Valentine's Day, World Marriage Day and any other day of the year! We will all be exceedingly rich in the graces that God will give us through Jesus who died for us to prove his astounding love, if we detach ourselves from our need to feel rich, full and rewarded now – if we let go of everything that hinders our progress to get to heaven!
All of this has everything to do with marriage! "Blessed is the married couple who hope in the Lord alone – who embrace the idea of living out their marriage as a preparation for entering fully into the Kingdom of Heaven -living by the same rules as all other Christians: being actually committed to everything about being not only a Catholic but a Catholic in a Sacramental Marriage, and willing to take the risks involved in finding out more and more about these things, and actually trying them out, day in and day out, especially when the going gets tough, even in the face of ridicule from others who may even sneer and say: "so where is your God now" – not all of you are living "happily ever after" – hasn't your God let you down? Well on that day, both St. Matthew, St. Luke and Jesus tell us to jump for joy, and be glad for it is in suffering humiliation and ridicule that the real happily ever after has a chance to begin for you one day at the end of your lives – when death parts you – and as brothers and sisters in God's family you live forever in the bliss that you rightly dreamed about at the very beginning of your marriage!
Yes it is true, blessed are those who trust in the Lord absolutely and are willing to do it his way completely; and the converse is true: cursed are those who trust in human beings, who seek strength in flesh and fleshly desires, and whose heart therefore turns away from the Lord. The Lord will turn away, by rights, from them in the end, forever! This will not be a case of "happily-ever -after!"
Let us celebrate today those who choose God, who choose life with God, who choose to be committed to him and to one another in a partnership of Christian experience, even if it is an unpopular thing to do: single persons and certainly, married couples, who have the Spirit of God at their beck and call to shower them with all the help, support and guidance they need – if only they ask it of him!
The Lord watches over the way of the just, whatever they do prospers, because they delight in the law of the Lord!
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