Anniversary Blessings
Marriage as mystery and miracle From Bishop David M. O’Connell’s homily for the Anniversary Blessing Masses Oct. 2 and 9.
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n this beautiful occasion of anniversaries, commitment and milestones, let’s spend a few moments reflecting upon miracles and gratitude and the assurances of our faith in the Lord! In the Sacrament of Marriage, God invites us not only to have the assurances that come with supernatural faith in him but also in the person we have chosen to marry, the person sitting next to you today after all these years of married life. One form of the wedding vows exchanged in the Sacrament of Marriage – perhaps the one you chose – reads, “I take you to be my spouse. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life.” Whatever form and words of the wedding vows you may have shared, “In this marriage is an act of supernatural Sacrament, faith, a Sacrament which imparts to us the God-given grace to persevere “all you share the the days of my life.” And here you are, 1, 25, 50 or more years later. assurances of Have there been “good times as faith and the well as bad?” Yes, for sure. “Sickness and health?” Indeed. Through all life’s grace of God.” joys and challenges, you have loved and honored the person sitting next to you “all the days of your life,” so far and for the years yet to come. You have shown love for one another in Christ, with Christ and for Christ. That is what makes marriage a Sacrament. “Love is patient,” St. Paul tells us. “Love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated; it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury; it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth; It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8). To celebrate an anniversary of the Sacrament of Marriage, your Sacrament, is to celebrate a milestone of the love St. Paul describes: your married love and your married life … “in good times and in bad.” That kind of love in marriage takes supernatural as well as natural faith, faith in God and faith in each other. The Church calls marriage a “Sacrament” because it is a sign of that love and faith to you, to your families and friends, to the Church. I consider the Sacrament of Marriage to be a miracle, yesterday, today in the times in which we live and forever. A “miracle” A couple embraces during the renewal of wedding vows in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton. Mike Ehrmann photo
42 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE
November 2022
is any event that cannot be explained by the laws of nature or science. For Catholics, miracles are usually attributed to the intervention of God. For you, in the mystery of God’s love, your miracle began at your first meeting. Why and how did you meet? Why and how did that meeting develop into a relationship? Why and how did it turn into a commitment that has endured? The mystery and miracle of God’s love became the mystery and miracle of your love. In this Sacrament, you share the assurances of faith and the grace of God all these days. If that is not a miracle resulting in many other miracles, I don’t know what is! Faith and grace have kept you going – together – “in good times and bad,” “in sickness and health” all these days of your married life. And there’s more to come! Mystery, miracles, faith and grace. As your Bishop on this day of Anniversary Blessing, I encourage you to be grateful to God for what you have received. You have already been richly blessed! I encourage you to be grateful to one another for who you have become in one another’s arms and for one another. You have already been richly blessed! I encourage you to be grateful for all those who have been part of your married lives along the way. You have already been richly blessed! “In all circumstances, give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” That is why we are here today. That is what I bless and celebrate today as your Bishop.