TUESDAY OCTOBER 29, 2024
TUESDAY OF THE THIRTIETH WEEK OF THE ORDINARY TIME B
Ephesians 5:21-33
Luke 13: 15-21
UPHOLDING MARRIAGE AND FAMILY STRUCTURE.
Recognising the primary place of the marriage institution and the invaluable nature of marriage in the growth of God’s kingdom is necessary for all. The Church has never stopped teaching this important aspect of our human lives.
Saint Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, our first reading today, outlines this basic teachings of the Scripture on how to maintain and uphold marriage and the family life. That God made them male and female. That a man leaves his house and clinges to his wife and the two become one. That this union is a sacred union made by God and designed for the growth and upholding of society. That the husband is the head of the house and deserves respect and honour and the first in the house. That a woman or the wife must be accorded love, respect, honour and be treated as such. That this union is maintained by mutual love and respect. That such love and respect keeps the union one, indissoluble and inseparable. And the reasons for such honour, respect and love is rooted in the fact that they are one. As Paul puts it, “Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it…”
But more importantly that this union of man and woman is a prototype of the union between Christ and the Church. Christ the head of the Church and the Church the body, a mystical union. A union that is permanent.
Therefore, the necessity of the marriage state and the family life for the growth, warmth, betterment, and evolving of human and God’s kingdom cannot be overemphasised. The Church describes the family and marriage as the domestic church, the nucleus of the society or community and from which the larger community of humanity takes its root.
Going further, we must highlight the precise ingredients that helps to sustain, enhance and uphold this sacred institution of God and that is love and respect of husband and wife for one another.
From this natural, sacred and indissolvable union of man and wife, like the mustered seed, or the yeast in the dough as the gospel of today narrates, the larger family of humanity and the kingdom of God evolves and grows.
We must thereof cherish the marriage and family life and help to maintain and uphold it. We must never adulterate it or distort its structure, composition or intent. It’s value in the society is irreplaceable and its worth is invaluable. And man has no control over its structure and composition, and man cannot determine or restructure it either. Every human soul comes from the family and marriage life. This must be allowed to be as God intended it.
Heavenly Father, you gave us a family, as your sacred ordinance for the growth of your kingdom. Help us to always Cherish the family life, and uphold its value and worth in our lives. Grant that we may help to promote its invaluable nature as intended by you. Bless our families, may we live in love, in peace, in unity and in happiness through Christ our Lord.
Fr Norbert Uchuno
