Parishable Items

By Fr. Victor Feltes

We read in the Genesis Creation account that it was not good for mankind to live in solitude, so God made a suitable partner for the man. “That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two become one body, one flesh.” Man and woman were made for each other. Psalm 128 notes how marriage, that first blessing from the original Garden, remains visible in the world even after the Fall: “Your wife like a fruitful vine in the heart of your house; your children like shoots of the olive around your table.” However, after the Fall, we are wounded by sin and drawn by temptation. Humanity commonly does not do as we should.

That is why St. Paul’s exhortation to the Corinthians reminds their divided and squabbling community what love is and what it is not. He lists eight things that love “is” or does alongside eight things love “is not.” Love is not jealous, not pompous, not inflated, not rude, not self-seeking, not quick-tempered, not brooding over injury, not rejoicing over wrongdoing. But love is patient, love is kind, it rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, and love never fails. These groupings of eight are interesting because Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount lists eight beatitudes. (Some may count nine beatitudes, but the Greek indicates that the final “blessed” is an expansion on the eighth one.) These beatitudes describe Christian saints, but first and foremost they describe Christ himself.

So eight, eight, and eight — What does this have to do with how we are to love today? In Genesis, God begins creating on the first day of the week, which is Sunday. He works six days and then rests on the seventh day. That is why the Jewish Sabbath, their holy day of rest, was Saturday. Jesus Christ, who on Good Friday worked his perfect Sacrifice, whose lifeless body on Holy Saturday kept a day of perfect rest, rose again on Easter Sunday. Christians beginning in the 1st or 2nd century called that Sunday “the eighth day,” the eighth day of Creation on which Jesus Christ transforms humanity and our lives in this world. Now we have hope beyond this life, hope for blessed endless life with God. And the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus have opened access to grace, the help of God, enabling us to live and love like him.

How can we achieve and preserve true unity and harmony among us in our homes and community? This is not possible merely on our own. We must let God give us his grace which allows us to live and love like him. This is why daily prayer, weekly worship, and consistent devotion to the Lord must be top priorities for any Christian. Jacob and Kayla, draw near to him and remain with him, so that you both may live and love like him and be blessed together. Like the psalmist said, ‘Blessed are all who fear, who reverence, the Lord and walk in his ways. You will be blessed and prosper. May you see your children’s children. May the Lord bless you all the days of your life.’

This entry was posted on June 22, 2025 at 12:50 am and is filed under Creation, Homily, Love, Marriage and Family, Sermon on the Mount, Wedding Homilies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.