The Word Of Peace
Homiletic Reflections On Peacemaking

Deacon Robert M. Pallotti

27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle B

"Basically my wife was immature. I'd be at home in the bath and she'd just walk in--and sink my boats." Woody Allen

"My wife was in labor with our first child for 32 hours and I was faithful to her the whole time." Jonathan Katz

"I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy the rest of your life."

"My wife and I were happy for 20 years. Then we met." R. Dangerfield

"I want a man who's kind and understanding. Is that too much to ask of a millionaire ?" Zsa Zsa Gabor

These brief reflections on marriage bespeak the joy, the challenges and the routine of married life. Among life's choices it is one of the most sacred--to offer and pledge oneself completely to another. Marriage itself, is the model for our relationships with God, others and the creation. That is, it is a model of covenant love. Covenant love which commits itself to a relationship of interdependence ! Covenant love which gives itself over as a gift to another in all contingencies of life. Covenant love--where we are drawn out of our selfishness. Such a love is the model for becoming a human being, for building a just and humane society, and for being good stewards of creation.

Such a love, in order to work, requires the reciprocal self-gift to the other. we see Jesus questioned on a point of the Mosaic law by some of the Pharisees. Their concern about marriage is not focused on love but legality. They were trying to trick Jesus to see if they could catch him in heresy. But he turns the table on them. Using the Scriptures twice he moves away from legalities to the heart of the matter--covenant love!

Jesus goes on to prohibit divorce. He sees it as contrary to God the Father's plan for human beings. But we must be careful here! This teaching of Jesus sits in a larger context. For a man to divorce a woman in that day, as well in some cases in our own, could very well put that women at risk. Without male support from relatives a woman was faced with very dim prospects for the future. This covenant love that Jesus affirms means just that ! It means both parties loving each other with the proper respect, nurture and affection that makes such a relationship work. When such is absent, or worse, when one party is a victim of violence at the hands of the other does not oblige one to take it!

We know as married people that the ideal is hard to attain. So many forces outside the marriage, one's own disappointed hopes, humiliations in the workplace, personal history and so on affect the success of a marriage. In our consumer and disposable society that markets and commodifies everything, and focuses on image and narrow definitions of success are a powerful challenge to strong marriages.

We know that marriages break down and fail--what is the Lord's response. Well, if we look at Hebrews --and the fullness of the compassion of God on the cross--we are told that our Lord was perfected in his free acceptance and participation in human suffering. Not only the suffering of human life, but of all creation! This is compassion. That is the power that heals the hurt in being present to it and in it. This is the power that challenges all to love in the same way. In compassion we learn of the pain and are moved to heal it! We see this in St. Francis. We celebrated the feast of St. Francis this weekend. Pope John Paul II called him the Patron saint of all who work for environmental justice. Why ? Because Francis saw that creation mediates God's presence, especially in the human person. Covenant love for God requires the same for the people of this world and the earth. How can we truly and holistically love another if we do not address horrid social conditions and the deteriorating environment around them?

This is what Jesus is getting at ! Our concern is not for legalities--but for love ! We are not about judging those whose marriages have failed, but rather, with the Lord, upholding the ideal while moving in compassion to help heal the pain for new beginning.

That is what it means to be of the Kingdom. Like children who accept their need for God, their vulnerability and receptivity to the pain of others and our world-- we too are called to the same ! It is the basic response to God, others, our world and our own hurting self which is the lynch pin to true, just, peaceful and loving covenant community.

So we are taken up with legalities--though we need laws and applaud and uphold ideals. Rather, we are summoned to love, real love, one that is compassionate. That is what gives life, restores life, and raises the dead to life. It is the reality of God's life that God wants to share with us. It is as close as ourselves, the other and the creation. So close in fact, that, in the words of Edna St. Vincent Millay: " God, I can push the grass apart And lay my finger on thy heart."

Deacon Robert M. Pallotti, D. Min.
Uploaded January 14, 2000