The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

In today's Gospel we witness the miracle at the wedding feast of Cana. This is Christ's first public miracle and it is performed for the benefit of the marriage state. It is therefore fitting that we focus our attention upon this most wonderful sacrament.

Marriage unites two people together for the rest of their lives. "What God has joined together let no man put asunder." (Matt. 19: 6) It is therefore imperative that we be very circumspect in the choice of partners that we make for ourselves. The state of mismatched marriages becomes a living hell. Two people are united body and soul to each other in this life and very often this union is the cause of their mutual eternal happiness or their eternal misery. Let us be vigilant in choosing the mate that God has chosen for us, and not the one that pleases our passing fancy.

All too often people marry for passing things such as, beauty, money, or station. They soon discover that none of these things can make them happy, and on the contrary they are often the cause of much sadness and misery. Or these material things fade away and the married people soon find that now they have no interest in each other, yet they are bound to each other for the rest of their lives.

All of us must live chastely but especially those who are preparing for marriage. An engagement is not a license to live in sin. Those who indulge their sexual lusts while in the single state prepare for themselves disappointment and frustration in the married state. St. Paul states that: "If thou take a wife, thou hast not sinned, and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned; nevertheless, such shall have tribulation of the flesh." (I Cor. 7: 28) This tribulation of the flesh is a misery and heartache that many thought they would leave behind when they entered into the married state only to find that it is increased when they are indissolubly united to each other. When we enter marriage we must do so as children of God with virtuous motives, not for lust.

Let us say with the young Tobias: "Thou knowest, Lord, that not for fleshly lust do I take my sister (cousin) to wife, but only for the love of posterity, in which Thy name may be blessed for ever and ever." (Tobias 8: 9) Or let us say with Sara: "Thou knowest Lord, that I never coveted a husband, and have kept my soul clean form all lust . . . but a husband I consented to take, with Thy fear, not with my lust." (Tobias 3: 16, 18)

Sexual indulgence in: pornography; self abuse; or fornication and adultery only lead to unreal sexual fantasies that can never be realized. And this is cause for much frustration and disappointment in marriage because they soon discover that the unreal fantasies that they entertained are unsustainable, and rather than the happiness and pleasure that they would find in their passions they now find disappointment and frustration. There is no true love in such relationships there is only self love. The partners only become instruments for each other's mutual lustful gratification.

Our bodies and souls have been created for much greater things than the passing desires of our bodies. The unregulated and unbounded pursuit of sexual gratification only leads to an emptiness of soul, shame and disgust for one's self and for those who have been cooperative instruments in this shameful and disgusting pursuit.

The first of Christ's miracles was for the benefit of the married state, and even today He offers His grace to those in the married state. But, we must do our part in receiving and benefiting from these graces. As pointed out above we must enter into this marriage in a worthy state and with worthy intentions. Lest we receive this sacrament sacrilegiously, we should make a good general confession. This will make us humble and free from sin and thus worthy of the graces of the sacrament of Marriage. Then, we should receive Our Lord in Holy Communion and thus enter into the marriage state with Christ not only present in our hearts and souls but, even in our bodies as we enter into this new and sacred state of our lives.

For those who are engaged let them say with the pious young Tobias: "Sara, arise, and let us pray to God today, and tomorrow, and the next day; because for these three nights we are joined to God, and when the third night is over, we shall be in our own wedlock; for we are the children of saints, and we must not be joined together like heathens that know not God." (Tob. 8: 4, 5)

For those of us who may have had the misfortune to have already entered into marriage without a vocation from God or with unworthy motives let us hear the words of St. Augustine: "If you have not been called, make yourself called." Let us do penance for the past and thoroughly amend our lives. Then God will be with us, and grant us all necessary grace, and we may yet work out our salvation and secure eternal happiness in heaven.

Franciscan Benefactor Seraph Subscription Vocations Have you remembered God?