Greetings on this the Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Gn 2:18-24; Ps 128:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6; Heb 2:9-11; Mk 10:2-16
Notes: So much has been written about love and marriage.
Who am I to offer something superior?
Lord knows the world is filled with advice, the good, the bad and the ugly.
To all I offer this wife’s reply to her husband after his big error.
“I may hate you more, but I will never love you less.” – Warhorse
First reading
In the story of creation Adam makes his orientation pledge:
“This one, at last, is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called ‘woman, ‘
for out of ‘her man’ this one has been taken.”
That is why a man leaves his father and mother
and clings to his wife,
and the two of them become one flesh.
Not too much further on in the story, Eve makes her orientation pledge via the words of the Lord:
Yet your urge shall be for your husband.
Perhaps better expressed for our modern ears from the Song of Songs:
- I belong to my lover, his yearning is for me (Sg 7:11).
- My lover belongs to me and I to him; he feeds among the lilies (Sg 2:16).
Responsorial Psalm
May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.
May you see your children’s children.
Peace be upon Israel!
Second reading
Jesus kept his orientation resolute.
For it was fitting that he,
for whom and through whom all things exist,
in bringing many children to glory,
should make the leader to their salvation perfect through suffering.
Alleluia Verse
If we love one another, God remains in us
and his love is brought to perfection in us.
Gospel Portion
“Let the children come to me;
do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to
such as these.
Orientation: we are all children first and foremost.
Then he embraced them and blessed them,
placing his hands on them.
Orientation: we should embrace each other.
Because of the hardness of your hearts
he wrote you this commandment.
Orientation: The permissive will of God is NOT the intended will of God.
Therefore what God has joined together,
no human being must separate.
Orientation: Help others strengthen in love. Help yourself to strengthen in love too.
But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.
Orientation: This isn’t going to change. We have to change to fit the reality. You are for me and I for you. We live in community. We thrive in positive relationships.
Our best future is in our simplest realities.
Is it lawful?
Orientation: Since when did Jesus ever define good by law?
He defined the good by love.
Therefore, he is not ashamed to call them “brothers.”
Orientation: you can be ashamed by what someone has done or what you have done wrong. But we may never be ashamed to call one another “friend”.
Conclusion:
So let us not be afraid to marry.
Let us not be afraid to fall in love.
Just keep our orientation to the good.
Below a word wheel to consider using to improve how we say things.
Peace be with you,
Deacon Gerry
Deacon Gerry Palermo 