WE ARE IN THE MONTH OF OCTOBER, THE MONTH OF THE HOLY ROSARY. PLEASE, PRAY THE HOLY ROSARY AND ASK THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY TO PRESENT YOUR INTENTIONS TO HER SON FOR REDRESS.
COLLECT: “ALMIGHTY EVER-LIVING GOD, INCREASE OUR FAITH, HOPE AND CHARITY, AND MAKE US LOVE WHAT YOU COMMAND, SO THAT WE MAY MERIT WHAT YOU PROMISED. THROUGH OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, YOUR SON, WHO LIVES AND REIGNS WITH YOU, FOR EVER AND EVER. AMEN”.
Eph 5:21-33 or 5:2a,25-32; Ps 127:1-5 and Lk 13:18-21.
Today’s portion of St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians touches on relationships within families, which are the building blocks of the Church into a mighty Kingdom of God on earth. Of course, if we have sound, peaceful, loving, surviving and progressive families, the Church will be more*. Otherwise, the opposite will be true. The people who have consented to give their love and lives to one another in marriage should be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. This aspect of subordination in marital relationship should be reciprocal- a give-and-take thing. It should not be a “one-way-traffic”. In other words, it should not be the case that one partner is subordinate to the other while the other is not. This will not be a Christian marital union. Therefore, just as the “wives should be subordinate and submit to their husbands as to the Lord,….., husbands should love their wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word….” (Cf. Eph 5:21ff).
A ‘Spirit-guided’ relationship between wives and husbands is not an option but a must, if the marriage partners want the relationship to grow from strength to strength or/and from its humble beginning to any mighty one. Indeed, married life is not easy. There are a lot of challenges involved in this lifelong relationship. It must also be noted that marriage is a divine vocation; it was ordained or instituted by God, and he sanctioned it. God only needs our cooperation in the marriage vocation. It will therefore be a great mistake, and certainly, the relationship will go nowhere, if the partners think it is their making and so think they can live it independently of God.
In fact, marriage involves THREE KEY PLAYERS: the MAN (husband), the WOMAN (wife) and GOD, the One who instituted it. Therefore, God is a must if marriage, that lifelong commitment, is to succeed at all. A lot of marriages are crumbling in our contemporary times, probably because God, one of the great players, is ignored by the partners. I pray today that the expressive words of St. Paul to the Ephesians in this portion we are reflecting on may be a constant daily reminder in the hearts of every married couple: “For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh….. In this case, each one of you should love his wife as himself, and the wife should respect her husband” (Eph 5:31-33), “One-one draw!” May God bless all married couples. May all married couples, as well as all aspirants to marriage, be reminded that marriage is a divine institution and God is one of the key players, who should not be ignored, but must be actively involved in the relationship. May married couples see God as their “marital cushion and marital yoke”, especially when they are going through rough moments, as well as when they are experiencing the unbearable heaviness of “marital crosses”. Take note: without good and lasting families, there is no Church. Stay blessed and have a fruitful day.
WE MEDITATE TODAY, TUESDAY, ON THE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES: ‘THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN, THE SCOURGING AT THE PILLAR, THE CROWNING WITH THORNS, THE CARRYING OF THE CROSS AND THE CRUCIFIXION’ (WE PRAY FOR SORROW FOR SIN, PURITY, COURAGE, PATIENCE, AND PERSEVERANCE) “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and the hour of our death, Amen”.
PRAYER: “MAY YOUR SACRAMENTS, O LORD, WE PRAY, PERFECT IN US WHAT LIES WITHIN THEM, THAT WHAT WE NOW CELEBRATE IN SIGNS WE MAY ONE DAY POSSESS IN TRUTH. THROUGH CHRIST OUR LORD. AMEN”.
Rev. Fr. Aloysius Kpiebaya, Catholic Diocese of Wa, UW/R, Ghana. (00233) 0207867239/0545462863. Email: aloybaya20@yahoo.com.
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