Made for a Forever Love
My Dear Parish Family,
In Genesis, we learn that God created us in his image and likeness (1:26-27). Franciscans would invite us to imagine that as the Father shaped the mud of the earth into Adam, He gazed in love on the face of His Son, the eternal Word. The second Person serves as a muse and model for humanity, quite a stunning and humbling revelation. Hence, the logic behind Jesus’ words: “I came that they might have life and life to the full” (Jn 10:10). Each and every one of the saints is a different reflection of that fullness of life. We hope to highlight in our series - Philly Saints - many beautiful ways that close friends have shown forth with God’s glory!
In our Gospel today (Mk 10:2-16), folks come to Jesus with a tricky question: divorce. Jesus stuns His audience by undermining the authority of Moses and customary practice. He says Moses permitted divorce due to the hardness of people’s hearts but originally God designed humanity for a far more noble purpose. By hearkening us back to the beginning, Our Lord claims a teaching authority that originates at the point of creation.
And from the beginning, we were made for a forever love. We were created to image God who is Love itself (1 Jn 4:7-9). Man and woman were created to entrust themselves to one another for the whole of life. Love’s true reflection is constant, persevering, enduring, sacrificial.
This teaching steps right into the woundedness of our human condition. We all know people who thought they would be together forever, but it did not end that way. I take that reality so seriously. It is fraught with pain and dashed hopes. I know the longing and the trauma that comes from seeking to be together forever and it not working out. So please do not think I write to further burden that brokenness. For marital problems and infertility, seek the intercession of Saint Rita of Cascia, who herself endured a very challenging marriage.
Appreciating those trying realities helps us to see even more clearly the truth of Jesus’ teaching. Jesus knows that we were made for more. He wants to see humanity flourish. And He recognizes the danger of not aspiring to our true and noble calling. We were made for a forever love because we were created to image the perfect and constant love of our creator.
Not all people are called to marriage. Not all people who are desirous of marriage should enter into it. Some people are unable to give themselves over in a life-long, exclusive faithful covenant. Others are called to a different form of covenantal consecration: some to the priesthood (like Padre Pio and John Neumann), some to vowed life in the Church (like Katharine Drexel and Rita of Cascia), others to be committed Christians living in the world for the kingdom. Each of these paths still trace the deep truth that we are made for a forever love, for a life-long commitment (see Mt 19:12 where Jesus outlines different paths).
Searching our hearts and exploring relationships, reveals the plain truth that we are made for a forever love. It is written into us. And the lives of the Saints witness to that truth. True fulfillment comes in walking the path God invites us to travel. Sadly, and especially during this 21st century with all its brokenness, many do not find that path. Hence, why it is so good to be reminded of the Creator’s design rather than a solution caused by hardness of heart.
This week, we kick off our Philly Saints series. We are seeking to encounter the lives of some remarkably interesting saints, to show how this forever love shines forth in and through them!
To begin, please visit the Padre Pio relic at OLGC and pay devotion to a man who was all on fire with love for God and neighbor, even bearing in his very flesh the wounds of our dear Jesus for 50 years, pointing strongly to Jesus’ sacrificial love for us.
May you become a true friend of the Saints,
Fr. Wilson
