HOMILÍAS/HOMILIES

 

 

Index

 

Homily 1

Spanish Version

Wedding 1

 

We Christians believe that God created marriage for the well-being of human beings and the continuation of humanity.  Within marriage God created the perfect institution of the family.  In Christian families children are born of the mutual love between husband and wife and are welcomed with joy.  The mission of parents is to take care of and form their children as good Christians.  In this way, families participate in the task that God has given them.  This is to evangelize, make known the word, saying that God loves us and that his kingdom is among us.  It is important that God be the foundation of each family.  The Christian family that does without God in marriage does not usually turn out well.  If married life is not is not based on love of God and on mutual love, it can turn into a selfish life.  Saint Paul, in one of his letters to the Corinthians, says that true love should not be selfish.  On the contrary, it should be pleased in the well-being and happiness of others.  The person who does not bear a grudge against his or her spouse or children shows himself or herself to be a good Christian.  When there are disagreements, the problems should be resolved as soon as possible and pardon should follow.

 

We live in a materialistic society that tries to convince us that any discord can be overcome with a gift.  Nevertheless, it has been proven that this is not so.  Problems should be resolved by talking about the situation and showing that love can overcome obstacles and even soften the differences that exist in characters.  A truly Christian marriage gives peace and confidence to the spouses and the children.  Each spouse should worry more about the other spouse than about himself or herself.  And they should support each other.  Good manners and understanding can bring peace and joy to the marriage.

 

The Church tells us that God has to be present in marriage.  And both spouses must strive to make God part of their home.  Prayer is very important in the home.  Spouses should go to Sunday Mass together.  And when children come they should go with their parents, giving an example, with their perseverance, of their love of God.  Prayer at home with the children is also very effective, keeping in mind the proverb that says: “the family that prays together, stays together.”

 

Children are the most precious gift that God has given in marriage.  In children, parents see a reflection of their love.  Remember always that each childe is unique, that even if they cause problems, your children are always your children, in spite of everything.

 

            It is important that those who are going to start a family, as you are, honestly look at the mission of the family.  God has created us through love and for love.  Precisely in the family is where love and mutual respect should abide.  The Bible tells us that in the Garden of Eden God created matrimony as a natural sacrament.  When Jesus Christ came he raised it to the dignity of a divine sacrament.  Christ turned it into a supernatural sacrament, an external sign of the grace of God that the spouses who receive the sacrament of matrimony receive.  God will give each of you, if you follow him faithfully, the grace you need to grow and mature in love, responsibility and total commitment.  You will be able to overcome the weariness, the tensions, even the disenchantment that daily life can bring.

 

But do not be afraid.  Start your family in God’s grace and allow yourselves to be guided by your love.  The Church will be with you always.  She will help you with prayer.  May God bless you in your marriage and may he give you the peace and the love that every human being deserves, especially you who are about to start your new marriage in God.     

 

 

Homily 2

Spanish Version

Wedding 2

 

My dear N. and N., you come to the Altar of the Lord to enter into holy matrimony.  That is what the Church has called, since the beginning, the intimate life of community and conjugal love in which a man and a woman leave their father and their mother, their friends and all of their former life to “become one flesh” (Mt 19:5) the free and personal decision that you have taken is the same one that many other couples have made over the centuries.   It is a promise of love.  You love each other and want to continue loving each other forever.  For this reason you want to give yourselves to each other completely and without conditions until death separates you.

 

Giving of each other mutually and exclusively is the key experience for learning more about the mystery of love that works in a unique way in marriage.  You want to give all that you have to each other including your persons, your bodies, your souls and your hearts.  In other words, all of your life for all of your life with gratitude and generosity.  From this mutual giving there will probably burst forth the gift of new life, the gift of children.  That is how authentic marital love works when it manifests itself in the lives of Christians.  Christian marital love is a love that is willing to sacrifice everything for the children, the fruit of your bodies.  You have decided to unite yourselves in matrimony so that this free and fruitful love will abound in your lives.  Saint Paul tells us in his First Letter to the Corinthians what is the secret of this love:  “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails.” (1 Cor 13:4-8)

 

Can such a love exist?  The world in which we live tells us no.  It tells us that in married and family life each member of the family has a right to isolate himself or herself from the rest, to try to be better than the others, to be the most important one.  But God tells us that that is not the way that those who who say that followers of God act.  God is love.  God is creative and redemptive love.  And God created human beings, men and women, so that we could participate in his plan of love and life, of eternal happiness and glory.  Nevertheless, the world in which we live tries to separate love from married life.  It tires to frustrate marriage forgetting that it is a creation of God himself and not an invention of the human race. God the Father himself created marriage in the Garden of Eden as a natural sacrament.  But it was the Lord Jesus who sanctified it by being born into a human family.  The love of the Crucified and Resurrected Christ sustains, comforts, gives life to and upraises the married love of Christian couples.  He converts it into a supernatural sacrament, into an external sign of the grace of God that married couples receive when they enter into a sacramental marriage.  God will give  to each of you the grace needed to grow and mature in love, to triumph over any temptation, to overcome the weariness, weakness and disappointment that sometimes enters into a married couple when they try to faithfully bring their lives together in the love of God.

 

            But do not be afraid.  Open your lives to the grace of God and allow yourselves to be carried by the love that you have for each other.  The plan of God for you will be revealed little by little.  It will permit you to fill your lives with a definite purpose – fruitfulness and happiness – during your marriage.  Do not fear!  All of your family and those who love you most are at your side; ready to help and accompany you on the road you have started out on.  This Christian community is also with you.  We will support you with our prayers.  Prayer is the most valuable treasure of the Church of Christ.  May God bless you in this marriage and may he give you the peace and the love that all Christian married couples deserve.

 

Homily 3

Spanish Version

Wedding 3

 

We Christians know that God created matrimony for the well being of human beings and the continuation of humanity and that, as part of matrimony, God created a perfect institution called the family.  In a Christian family children are born through the mutual love between husband and wife and they are accepted with joy.  The mission of parents is to nurture and mold their children into good Christians.  In this way all families participate in the task that the Lord gave us – to evangelize – in other words, to spread the good news that God loves us and that his kingdom is among us.  That is why it is so important for God to be the basis of all families.  The Christian family that does not include God in their marriage usually turns out going bad.  When marital love is not based on the love of God, marital life can be transformed into a selfish lifestyle.  For that reason, in his First Letter to the Corinthians Saint Paul says that true love cannot be selfish.  It must rejoice in the well-being and happiness of others.  A good Christian cannot hold a grudge against his or her spouse or children.  All disagreements should be resolved as soon as possible.

 

The materialistic society in which we live many times tries to convince us that we must show our love by giving expensive presents.  Nevertheless, this is not true.  Love really only means thinking of others.  True Christian married couples can be recognized through their peacefulness and confidence in each other.  Each one of the spouses takes care of and supports the other.  Sometimes a kind phrase, coupled with a smile, can bring happiness to those who surround us.  Happiness in married life is not consist of having a lot of money but of having a lot of respect and love.  Christian matrimony is a sign of the love and unity of Jesus Christ with us, with his Church.  The faithfulness of Christ, shown through his death for us on the Cross, should be a model for the love of married couples, who should remain united “until death separates them.”

 

The Church tells us that God is present in all marriages.  And it is both members of the married couple who make God present in their home.  That is why it is so important for prayer to be a part of married life.  The married couple should go to Mass together, every day if possible, but at least on Sundays.  They should always pray together and with their children.  An old proverb says: “the family that prays together, stays together.”

 

Children are a gift from God and a precious fruit of marriage.  You, who will receive the grace of God in this sacrament of Matrimony, will cooperate with him in the passing on of life: both natural and supernatural.  In their children, parents encounter a reflection of their love and their unity.  You should always remember that each child is unique and that your children will always be your children, no matter what.

 

We should all understand very clearly what the mission of the family is, the plans that God has for it.  We were created through love and for love.  Love is the foundation of the family.  The Bible tells us that in the Garden of Eden God the Father created matrimony as a natural sacrament when he created man and woman.  Later the Son of God, Jesus Christ, elevated matrimony gave it its supernatural character.  That is why we say that marriage does not only consist of mutual support and as a remedy for human loneliness.  It also consists of calm affection, mutual giving, trust without limits and faithfulness to the one you love.

 

The grace of the Holy Spirit comes to all those who celebrate their marriage in the Church.  It empowers the married couple to attain the goals of marriage: to mutually love and help each other and to have and educate children.  This grace that you will receive today and throughout your married live will strengthen you.  But, as with all families, your family will need the support of a community that will create a climate of love, of understanding and of confidence.  This parish community welcomes you as a new Christian family.  We promise to "be there" for you in time of need.  May god shower you with his blessings and may you always be joyful in his love.

 

 


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