iStock/John Twynam
“How do you handle the challenges of being a priest?” I recall this question or various iterations of it being asked of me rather commonly during the year following my ordination. I honestly never really have understood the motivation behind this question and, after hearing it enough times, I started to ask the people a question of my own: “How do you handle the challenges of being married?”
Invariably, each person would look at me dumbfounded, and it would become apparent while talking to them that they had assumed being a priest must be significantly more challenging than being a husband or wife. However, truly living one’s vocation — no matter what it is — in such a way as to become a saint will always present challenges that require firm resolve and charity to overcome.
As Valentine’s Day approaches, the Church celebrates World Marriage Day this weekend. The Gospel passage presents us with the Lukan account of the Beatitudes, which are slightly different than the ones we normally hear from St. Matthew’s Gospel. In St. Luke’s accounting of the Beatitudes, the Lord’s words are written in the second person so as to communicate that Christ is actually pronouncing a blessing upon those who take up the costly call of discipleship. For all the married couples that are experiencing the sharp edges of their vocation, these words are a reminder that the vocation is worth the cost it exacts.
While the world will tell us marriage is about exotic trips to the remote places on earth, a big house with a four-car garage, or the self-actualization of the individual spouses, the Beatitudes will help us get to the reality of it. If spouses practicing natural family planning lack the finances to take their family to Disney World, the Lord says, “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours.” If spouses need to forego a career advancement to tend to the needs of their family, the Lord says, “Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.” If spouses are feeling the pain of their beloved’s terminal illness, the Lord says, “Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.” If spouses are mocked and derided for upholding the Church’s teaching on the indissolubility of marriage, the Lord says, “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.”
As Jeremiah prophesies in our first reading this weekend, those who trust in the ways of God will be like the tree planted beside water, obtaining long and sturdy roots that keep the leaves green and bear fruit even in times of drought. “Behold, your reward will be great in heaven,” we hear Christ say to his disciples. The vocation of marriage is fundamentally about the call to holiness, the obtainment of sainthood. By embracing the life of discipleship in marriage, husbands and wives live the Beatitudes and pave the way to heaven not only for themselves, but for their children, neighbors and all to whom they bear witness.
Father Meyers is pastor of St. Francis Xavier in Buffalo. He can be reached at [email protected].
Sunday, Feb. 13
Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
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