A few years ago, I was given the opportunity to visit the Holy Land. One thing I noticed as I travelled around was that it was a sandy and rocky place filled with gullies and ravines. In most instances, the gullies and ravines are relatively safe places to build a house, but occasionally a flash flood strikes and turns the gullies and the ravines into raging rivers. In this afternoon’s gospel, we hear Jesus say that when a wise person builds his house on the side of a gully or ravine, he makes sure it is anchored firmly to the rock. If it isn’t, it can be swept away by a deluge!
Brothers and sisters, the point of Jesus’ parable in today’s liturgy is that the Word of God that we hear each Lord’s Day is intended to be the rock upon which each one of us builds our daily lives. As Ben Sirach announces in our first reading: “Immense is the wisdom of the Lord, he is mighty in power, and all-seeing” (Sir 15:18).
What a wonderful reminder of the saying, “It takes three to get married.” Marriages are built not just by the exchange of consent between husband and wife, but their lasting foundation is to be found in words spoken at the site of Jesus’ first miracle, the Wedding at Cana in Galilee. There some motherly advice was given to those who would listen, “Do whatever he tells you” (Jn 2:5). As we gather in this place to honor and celebrate the Sacrament of Marriage, as well as, on the cusp of the holy season of Lent — our Scripture readings are reminding you and me today that it is not simply enough for us to listen to God’s Word Sunday after Sunday, but we must do something about it…do something with it.
This is where our God-given vocations in life take on special meaning. They are the house at whose door Jesus can knock — inviting us to let him in but also encouraging us to step forth into the world as an outward sign — a living gospel for all people to hear! And what is this Gospel? As Pope Benedict XVI would emphasize, the Gospel is not just a written word, but a person! The person of Jesus Christ, whose mission continues within each of us through the grace of the Seven Sacraments. Those sacraments are the concrete and living signs of God’s love and presence in our local communities and parishes.
In particular, in the Sacraments of Vocation — Marriage and Holy Orders, persons are invited to build their lives on the foundation of Jesus’ words and the revealed Word of God as given to us in the Sacred Scriptures. In either Sacrament, this development can be compared to building a house. Like a house, it does not appear overnight (unless you are getting a modular home — and they still have to be assembled). So I think most here would say that you do not take possession of the house of marriage or the house of ordained ministry all ready-made on your wedding or ordination day. It has to be built!
And in building it, sisters and brothers, it is essential that one looks to the future because this house has to last, not just for a few years, but for the rest of our lives. Standing the test of time when the gales of life have let loose their fury upon one’s life and dwelling place. So how does it begin? It begins like relationships with the tiniest gesture: an interested glance, the brush of a hand. Lifelong love builds from little expressions of care before it becomes total with surrender to the beloved. And lest you and I forget the pitfalls and sand traps of today’s gospel reading, at the opposite end of the spectrum are the shifting sands of anger, white lies, lustful looks producing betrayal, rejection, and deception — all of which undermine any possibility of building a loving relationship on a firm foundation.
In the Book of Proverbs, Chapter 9, Verse 1, one reads: “Wisdom has built her house, she has set up her seven columns.” St. Paul echoes this verse in our second reading as he speaks of God’s Wisdom and the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The seven columns or pillars can be likened to the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit, the first being Wisdom, followed by Knowledge, Understanding, Right Judgement, Fortitude (Courage), Piety, and Fear of the Lord (Reverence).
As I remind our young people when they receive the Sacrament of Confirmation, these Gifts of the Spirit are meant to be unwrapped and used daily, not just put up on a shelf or in a closet for a rainy day!
Brothers and sisters, in a few moments, the married couples here present are going to be invited to renew their marriage vows, after which the entire assembly will be invited to renew our baptismal profession of faith. Each moment is an invitation for you and me to stir into flame the gift of the Spirit that God has given us in our lives. Even more poignant is the fact that we do so as we prepare to enter our annual Lenten retreat of 40 days, where you and I are invited to become a pray-er and doer of God’s Word by taking the word to heart, reflecting on it, and trying to see how it applies to us and to our lives. Such reflection is meant to lead us to a second step of action … of doing … of taking concrete steps to implement God’s Word in our lives. These two steps illustrate what the Lenten practices of prayer, fasting, and charitable works are all about — taking time to reflect on the Word of God and our lives and putting it into practice.
Now, it is most likely true that some here present might want to say to me: Bishop, I haven’t been living Lent for 40 days, I have been living it for ____ and you fill in the blank! Yet, this just illustrates what the partnership of marriage which is a reflection of our partnership with God is all about: working together with the Holy Spirit to bear much fruit and to help one another grow in holiness. Not always easy, but doable if God is part of the equation.
Let me conclude with words from a homily that Pope Leo gave during the Jubilee on Marriage and Family:
“In recent decades, we have received a sign that fills us with joy but also makes us think. It is the fact that several spouses have been beatified and canonized, not separately, but as married couples. I think of Louis and Zélie Martin, the parents of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus; and of Blessed Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrocchi, who raised a family in Rome in the last century. And let us not forget the Ulma family from Poland: parents and children, united in love and martyrdom. I said that this is a sign that makes us think. By pointing to them as exemplary witnesses of married life, the Church tells us that today’s world needs the marriage covenant in order to know and accept God’s love and to defeat, thanks to its unifying and reconciling power, the forces that break down relationships and societies…I would remind all married couples that marriage is not an ideal but the measure of true love between a man and a woman: a love that is total, faithful and fruitful (cf. SAINT PAUL VI, Humanae Vitae, 9). This love makes you one flesh and enables you, in the image of God, to bestow the gift of life. {And I would add…to be the Sacrament…the outward sign of God’s real love here and now. Amen!}
