Reading 1 EPH 5:21-33
Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.
For the husband is head of his wife
just as Christ is head of the Church,
he himself the savior of the Body.
As the Church is subordinate to Christ,
so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives,
even as Christ loved the Church
and handed himself over for her to sanctify her,
cleansing her by the bath of water with the word,
that he might present to himself the Church in splendor,
without spot or wrinkle or any such thing,
that she might be holy and without blemish.
So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.
He who loves his wife loves himself.
For no one hates his own flesh
but rather nourishes and cherishes it,
even as Christ does the Church,
because we are members of his Body.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.
This is a great mystery,
but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church.
In any case, each one of you should love his wife as himself,
and the wife should respect her husband.
Responsorial Psalm PS 128:1-2, 3, 4-5
Blessed are you who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
Your children like olive plants
around your table.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
R. Blessed are those who fear the Lord.
Alleluia SEE MT 11:25
Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth;
you have revealed to little ones the mysteries of the Kingdom.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel LK 13:18-21
Jesus said, “What is the Kingdom of God like?To what can I compare it?
It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in the garden.
When it was fully grown, it became a large bush
and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.”
Again he said, “To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God?
It is like yeast that a woman took
and mixed in with three measures of wheat flour
until the whole batch of dough was leavened.”
VOCATION SHORTAGE
"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church. He gave Himself up for her." –Ephesians 5:25
One Bread, One Body - Reflection for October 25, 2016
Much attention and prayer is devoted to the priest shortage in the Church. The Church in her wisdom has resisted watering down the requirements for the priesthood. A vocation crisis also exists in Christian marriage. In the USA, the very definition of marriage as the union between one man and one woman (Catechism, 1660) is under attack. Half of Catholic marriages end in divorce, while many couples who have not divorced are miserable.
A vocation is a supernatural calling, not a natural one. We cannot live our God-given vocation by lowering God's standards. Rather than making marriage "easier" by requiring less and operating in the natural, we must live marriage in the supernatural by a life in the Spirit, and daily seeking and receiving the grace of holy matrimony available in the Spirit.
Minimizing marriage by cutting back, contracepting, or taking shortcuts simply is another way of quenching the Spirit (Eph 4:30). This is quenching love. This is not giving all. When we don't give all, we don't get all. Instead of making marriage easier, we make it harder because we block the Spirit of life, and move toward death rather than new life.
Give all to your vocation. Holy Catholic marriages have great power to break the vocations crisis by being the seedground of holy and consecrated vocations (see Gal 6:7-8). Just as good priests attract future priests to the priesthood, good marriages attract other good marriages and foster holy vocations.
| PRAYER: | Father, may I throw myself into my vocation and abandon my life into Your hands. |
| PROMISE: | "Happy are you who fear the Lord, who walk in His ways!" –Ps 128:1 |
| PRAISE: | Robert and Sarah got back together when they got God back into their marriage. |
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