{"id":2649,"date":"2018-10-07T12:23:12","date_gmt":"2018-10-07T16:23:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2649"},"modified":"2018-10-07T12:23:12","modified_gmt":"2018-10-07T16:23:12","slug":"27th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-b-homily-respect-life-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/27th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-b-homily-respect-life-sunday\/","title":{"rendered":"27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – Homily (Respect Life Sunday)"},"content":{"rendered":"

27th<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B<\/a>
\nGenesis 2:18-24
\nPsalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6 (5)
\nHebrews 2:9-11
\nMark 10:2-16
\nOctober 7, 2018<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not good for the man to be alone<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

These are God\u2019s own words as He brought order to the world in creation.\u00a0 God did not create the man to dominate other creatures.\u00a0 Humans are created in God\u2019s love and to love.\u00a0 That means we are not meant to be alone.<\/p>\n

This is true on a large level.\u00a0 We are meant to be around people.\u00a0 It is also true on a one-on-one level.\u00a0 This points us to marriage and what it is meant to be.<\/p>\n

Marriage is not<\/em><\/strong> just a contract between two people.\u00a0 Marriage is meant to be a covenant between two equals.\u00a0 A contract would set rules for the interaction between those named in the contract.\u00a0 For example, one spouse takes out the garbage, the other vacuums the floors.\u00a0 That might be a \u201ccontract\u201d that people sharing an apartment might have.<\/p>\n

Marriage, including sharing chores but it is meant to be much more than that.\u00a0 It is a relationship of love.\u00a0 It is a relationship of being there<\/em><\/strong> for each other.\u00a0 A contract can be ended when it no longer suits those in the contract.\u00a0 Marriage as a covenant is meant to last a lifetime.<\/p>\n

Do marriages end in divorce?\u00a0 The answer is obviously yes.\u00a0 I myself have multiple relatives who are divorced.\u00a0 My own parents divorced when I was a child.\u00a0 I know how divorce affects families.\u00a0 Divorce happens but it is not what God intends.\u00a0 I think part of the problem is that people don\u2019t look at marriage as necessarily a lifetime commitment when they first get together.\u00a0 They get married because they are happy together and if they become unhappy, they walk away.<\/p>\n

God set marriage as a relationship of equals, signified by how the woman was made from the rib of the man, made of the same substance, \u201cbone of my bones and flesh of my flesh<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 When you are dating, do you look for someone who makes you feel good in the moment or are you looking for someone who helps you feel loved and become who you are supposed to be?\u00a0 Are you better disciples together than apart?\u00a0 When you find this person, there will still be challenges but you will choose to work through the challenges because of your love for each other.<\/p>\n

It involves how we look at the other person as a \u201cperson,\u201d as a child of God rather than just someone who makes us happy. \u00a0We discover ourselves in discovering who they are.<\/p>\n

I began with God\u2019s words at the time of creation, \u201cIt is not good for the man to be alone<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Our understanding of marriage has its roots in this line.\u00a0 Marriage as a covenant involves a deep respect<\/em><\/strong> for the spouse as a person.<\/p>\n

We are called to respect all life.\u00a0 We are called to cherish all life.\u00a0 The love we find in a good marriage leads us to a love and respect for all persons.<\/p>\n

Who else might be alone?<\/p>\n

Here, I first think of the homebound in a parish.\u00a0 Because of health problems, they are not able to get out.\u00a0 Some of them have family and friends who regularly visit them but others don\u2019t.\u00a0 They might feel \u201calone\u201d in the world.\u00a0 Sometimes when I make a home visit, the person is just happy to have someone to talk to.\u00a0 Is there a homebound person who you might visit so they don\u2019t feel alone?<\/p>\n

I think this understanding of people feeling \u201calone\u201d is very important when people are facing end of life issues.\u00a0 When making decisions for medical treatment when we face terminal medical conditions people often talk about the physically suffering the person faces but I think there can be a deeper pain that might not even have anything to do with their physical illness if they feel alone.\u00a0 If they feel alone, they might feel like no one cares.\u00a0 We need to let them know we care.\u00a0 In doing so, we give them a reason to live.<\/p>\n

Moving from the end of life in this world to the beginning, there are women who choose abortion because they feel alone in the world and without hope.\u00a0 They might think no one cares and feel like it would be impossible for them to care for the child.\u00a0 What might you do to show you care so they know they are not alone?<\/p>\n

What about a murderer?\u00a0 Those who advocate for the death penalty use the crime to justify the death penalty.\u00a0 I would suggest that having the death penalty might say to the person that life is not precious.\u00a0 We need to show them that life is precious.\u00a0 How many people who commit murder come from situations where they feel alone, that no one cares?<\/p>\n

A marriage between is meant to be a deep love between a man and a woman. \u00a0This love that has its origins in God should lead us to love all.\u00a0 God is love.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B Genesis 2:18-24 Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6 (5) Hebrews 2:9-11 Mark 10:2-16 October 7, 2018 \u201cIt is not good for the man to be alone.\u201d These are God\u2019s own words as He brought order to the world in creation.\u00a0 God did not create the man to dominate other …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – Homily (Respect Life Sunday)’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82],"tags":[506,80,160],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-GJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2649"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2649"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2650,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2649\/revisions\/2650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}