A Wedding Homily
______ and ______, now comes the part where you’re wondering how long is he going to talk. We want to get to the good part. I hope he’s not going to go on too long. It’s ok. I wasn’t born with this collar on. I’ve been there. I know.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted to say to you two today. Wedding homilies are hard. ______, it’s like when you take a picture. You want everything to be just right. It may be a once-in-a-lifetime shot and you want to be sure that you give it your best.
You want to have the camera in just the right spot. You want the light to be just right. You want the aperture and the shutter speed to be perfect. Every picture is different. You don’t want to blow it. That’s how I feel about wedding homilies. Every couple is different and I don’t want to blow it.
Then it dawned on me yesterday morning in the shower that it really doesn’t matter what I want to say. It’s what God wants to say to you today that’s important.
It says in the wedding rites book that I’m supposed to speak to you about the mystery of Christian marriage, the dignity of wedded love, the grace of the sacrament and the responsibilities of married people. You told me what you wanted to hear today when you picked out your readings.
In the first reading, Tobias wakes Sarah up, presumably in the middle of the night and tells her to get up, they’re going to pray for the Lord’s grace and protection, which is what you’re doing here today. Tobias praised and blessed God. He recalls how God created Eve to be Adam’s companion and says “I do not take my sister for any lustful motive; I do it in singleness of heart. Be kind enough to have pity on her and me and bring us to old age together.”
What a beautiful thought. “Bring us to old age together.” ______ and ______, that’s the prayer we all make for you today. We pray that God will give you his grace and protection, which is why we celebrate the sacrament of Holy Matrimony here in God’s house. Through the sacrament you receive that grace and protection. Trust me. You’re going to need it.
Marriage is hard, very hard. Without God’s help, I’d say it’s nearly impossible. Daily prayer and regular reception of Christ’s Body and Blood will build a bond between the two of you that will resist the forces in the world that will try to drive you apart.
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Your choice for the second reading is the one that just about every couple picks. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is never jealous. Love is never boastful or conceited. It’s never rude or selfish. It doesn’t take offense and it’s not resentful. That just about says it all.
Every married couple should paste Paul’s words on the bathroom mirror where they can see them the first thing every morning. I promise you that if you make it a point every day to be patient, and kind, not jealous, not boastful or conceited, not rude or selfish and not resentful, you will have a long and happy life together.
Finally, you chose Matthew’s “light of the earth” Gospel. Where almost everybody picks Paul’s treatise on love, not so many pick this particular Gospel. But, I think it may be the most appropriate of all the choices for a couple starting life together.
God has given the two of you a vocation. Your vocation is to be man and wife. It’s a vocation of love, just as all vocations are vocations of love. Your love for one another is representative of the love God has for each of us. You are the light of the world.
Jesus says that you don’t light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket. You set it on a lamp stand where it can give light to the whole house. We’re all called to be light for one another. But so many people today aren’t following God’s commandment to love one another. Maybe that’s why the world seems to be in such darkness.
As I said, marriage is very hard. Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk wrote that the obligations of marriage vows are often just as hard as the vows of religious life. Like consecrated religious, God will give you the grace to keep going through the sacrament you’re about to receive. It raises your love to a spiritual plane. If you accept that grace in the spirit of faith, it becomes an opportunity to grow in holiness. Your entire married life becomes a light for the people around you.
______, you’re being called to love ______ even more than you love yourself. ______, you’re being called to love ______ even more than you love yourself. You’re both going to promise to be true to one another in good times and bad, in sickness and in health. Your going to promise to love and honor each other all the days of your lives.
We Catholics are very sensory people. We meet God through our senses. We’re baptized with water. At certain times we’re anointed with fragrant oil. We eat and drink Christ’s Body and Blood in the Eucharist. For some sacraments, we have the laying on of hands. We make the sign of the cross. We sing and ring bells and use incense. Sometimes you hear the expression bells and smells. That’s us. That’s our faith.
What you’re signing up for today is a lifetime of sensory experiences. ______, as a photographer you know all about the beauty of God’s handiwork. When you capture an image on film and print it on paper, you’re creating a reflection of God. As wonderful as that may be, it’s just a faint image compared to the real thing.
Your married life will be the same. It will be a reflection of God’s image. God chose to share Himself with us by becoming one of us. He shared himself completely by giving up his own life so that we could be saved. When you share yourselves, without reservation, without hesitation, without restrictions with one another, you represent God’s love to one another, and to the rest of us. You are the light of the world.
Today you begin a journey. No one knows how it’s going to turn out. Everybody in this church is praying that you’ll never know anything but the best that life has to offer. But we also know that that probably won’t happen. There will be trials. There will be hard days. The two of you know, probably more than most, that things don’t always turn out the way we want them to.
But together, there won’t be anything that you won’t be able to handle. In just a moment, you’re going to say the words that everyone here is waiting to hear. Thank you for asking me to be a part of such a special day in your lives. You’re very special people, from very special families. I pray that your light will shine brightly for a long, long time.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what I wanted to say to you two today. Wedding homilies are hard. ______, it’s like when you take a picture. You want everything to be just right. It may be a once-in-a-lifetime shot and you want to be sure that you give it your best.
You want to have the camera in just the right spot. You want the light to be just right. You want the aperture and the shutter speed to be perfect. Every picture is different. You don’t want to blow it. That’s how I feel about wedding homilies. Every couple is different and I don’t want to blow it.
Then it dawned on me yesterday morning in the shower that it really doesn’t matter what I want to say. It’s what God wants to say to you today that’s important.
It says in the wedding rites book that I’m supposed to speak to you about the mystery of Christian marriage, the dignity of wedded love, the grace of the sacrament and the responsibilities of married people. You told me what you wanted to hear today when you picked out your readings.
In the first reading, Tobias wakes Sarah up, presumably in the middle of the night and tells her to get up, they’re going to pray for the Lord’s grace and protection, which is what you’re doing here today. Tobias praised and blessed God. He recalls how God created Eve to be Adam’s companion and says “I do not take my sister for any lustful motive; I do it in singleness of heart. Be kind enough to have pity on her and me and bring us to old age together.”
What a beautiful thought. “Bring us to old age together.” ______ and ______, that’s the prayer we all make for you today. We pray that God will give you his grace and protection, which is why we celebrate the sacrament of Holy Matrimony here in God’s house. Through the sacrament you receive that grace and protection. Trust me. You’re going to need it.
Marriage is hard, very hard. Without God’s help, I’d say it’s nearly impossible. Daily prayer and regular reception of Christ’s Body and Blood will build a bond between the two of you that will resist the forces in the world that will try to drive you apart.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your choice for the second reading is the one that just about every couple picks. Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is never jealous. Love is never boastful or conceited. It’s never rude or selfish. It doesn’t take offense and it’s not resentful. That just about says it all.
Every married couple should paste Paul’s words on the bathroom mirror where they can see them the first thing every morning. I promise you that if you make it a point every day to be patient, and kind, not jealous, not boastful or conceited, not rude or selfish and not resentful, you will have a long and happy life together.
Finally, you chose Matthew’s “light of the earth” Gospel. Where almost everybody picks Paul’s treatise on love, not so many pick this particular Gospel. But, I think it may be the most appropriate of all the choices for a couple starting life together.
God has given the two of you a vocation. Your vocation is to be man and wife. It’s a vocation of love, just as all vocations are vocations of love. Your love for one another is representative of the love God has for each of us. You are the light of the world.
Jesus says that you don’t light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket. You set it on a lamp stand where it can give light to the whole house. We’re all called to be light for one another. But so many people today aren’t following God’s commandment to love one another. Maybe that’s why the world seems to be in such darkness.
As I said, marriage is very hard. Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk wrote that the obligations of marriage vows are often just as hard as the vows of religious life. Like consecrated religious, God will give you the grace to keep going through the sacrament you’re about to receive. It raises your love to a spiritual plane. If you accept that grace in the spirit of faith, it becomes an opportunity to grow in holiness. Your entire married life becomes a light for the people around you.
______, you’re being called to love ______ even more than you love yourself. ______, you’re being called to love ______ even more than you love yourself. You’re both going to promise to be true to one another in good times and bad, in sickness and in health. Your going to promise to love and honor each other all the days of your lives.
We Catholics are very sensory people. We meet God through our senses. We’re baptized with water. At certain times we’re anointed with fragrant oil. We eat and drink Christ’s Body and Blood in the Eucharist. For some sacraments, we have the laying on of hands. We make the sign of the cross. We sing and ring bells and use incense. Sometimes you hear the expression bells and smells. That’s us. That’s our faith.
What you’re signing up for today is a lifetime of sensory experiences. ______, as a photographer you know all about the beauty of God’s handiwork. When you capture an image on film and print it on paper, you’re creating a reflection of God. As wonderful as that may be, it’s just a faint image compared to the real thing.
Your married life will be the same. It will be a reflection of God’s image. God chose to share Himself with us by becoming one of us. He shared himself completely by giving up his own life so that we could be saved. When you share yourselves, without reservation, without hesitation, without restrictions with one another, you represent God’s love to one another, and to the rest of us. You are the light of the world.
Today you begin a journey. No one knows how it’s going to turn out. Everybody in this church is praying that you’ll never know anything but the best that life has to offer. But we also know that that probably won’t happen. There will be trials. There will be hard days. The two of you know, probably more than most, that things don’t always turn out the way we want them to.
But together, there won’t be anything that you won’t be able to handle. In just a moment, you’re going to say the words that everyone here is waiting to hear. Thank you for asking me to be a part of such a special day in your lives. You’re very special people, from very special families. I pray that your light will shine brightly for a long, long time.
posted by Mike at 6:44 PM
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