Father Rick’s Two-Minute Homily for Friday, 7th Week of Ordinary Time

February 28, 2025, Mark 10:1-12

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/022825.cfm

Nothing Can Divide Us Married In Christ

Married or not, we must always follow Jesus in laying down what is important to us so that we may selflessly take up what is most important to another person. As demonstrated by Jesus, this selfless love is the cornerstone of a healthy and fulfilling marriage. Over the centuries, married love revealed by God in the Scriptures has degraded from a loving relationship.

When the Lord God, who is love, is no longer the center of our human relationships, people become property that can be disposed of for any reason. Jesus has instilled in the Catholic Church through the Sacrament of Marriage a unity, faithfulness, permanence, and indissolubility that keeps God’s original intention for marriage sacred.

It’s how He loves us. Jesus states this truth in today’s Gospel: “From the beginning of creation.” His love is enduring, just as He intended our marriages to be.

In the Holy Sacrament of Marriage, God instills in the couple making their wedding vows the grace of a relationship with Him and each other that nothing in their lives can dissolve except death. Unfortunately, if one of the partners loses that precious relationship with the Lord, they move from being other-centered – God-centered to self-centered.

It is hard for a partner to accept why their spouse no longer bears their heart with them or understands them and, in the end, no longer loves them, even when they try under the most challenging circumstances.

Prayer is the key to maintaining a God-centered relationship. It is the best advice one can give to an engaged couple or those having difficulties in their marriage. Pray together to lose yourselves for God and each other, and you will find strength and connection in His love.

By spending time with the Lord, we become like Him: patient, kind, not quick-tempered. In 1 Corinthians, chapter 13, St. Paul teaches that we can bear and endure everything, including the trials and tribulations that come with marriage, with the love and grace of God.

Gospel Challenge:
You might want to try replacing love with the pronoun “I.” I am patient. I am kind… And where this isn’t happening or seems too difficult, ask God’s mercy and your partners, too. Married or not, we must never fear following Jesus in laying down what is important to us so that we may selflessly take up what is most important to another person.

Love Your Neighbor!

Fr. Rick Pilger, IC

www.bscchurch.com