27th Sunday in Ordinary Time (B)
INTRO:
Tell story of the NEW PRIEST…
-all excited for his FIRST wedding
-not sure how many of you know the details of the ROMAN MISSAL, but this new priest was “still” fumbling a bit with the pages/ritual
HE WANTED TO GET EVERYTHING JUST RIGHT
-he was asking his PASTOR if he had any “tips” to make sure all would go well….
PASTOR SAID….” Oh, you’ll do a great job; It shouldn’t be a problem, but, if you forget something…. a good rule of thumb
QUOTE SCRIPTURE…IT ALWAYS WORKS!!
-On the BIG day of the wedding…. all was going well until the very end, and he has his arms outstretched to announce them as husband and wife and his mind goes BLANK on their names!!!
He froze and then remembered the PASTOR’s advice to quote Scripture. He took a deep breath and spoke the very words of Scripture that IMMEDIATELY came to his mind
“FATHER, FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO!”
I love weddings. I love your marriages, too. I also enjoy helping you when marriages do not work out, NO JUDGEMENTS MADE!
In both cases, whether you are on the altar getting married and living as a married couple or if you happen to be divorced, having experienced the pain, the hurt, the alienation, the anger PLEASE UNDERSTAND our Lord Jesus SEES you and loves you and IS WITH YOU every step of the way whether within marriage or within divorce.
This beauty: this friendship of Jesus to all of us, is disguised a bit in this GOSPEL. Gospel writers sometimes are not as CLEAR in their writings, but if all of you can listen with the ear of your heart to the line that says:
LET THE CHILDREN COME TO ME
One can easily hear a most definite desired friendship that JESUS has for us, His children! He wants every one of us at his side no matter what. And it is a friendship that welcomes us for who we are or where we are in life. It is a tender relationship that is prompted by Him and hopefully accepted by each of us. It is especially important for me to mention that those of us who happen to be divorced or getting divorced are not bad people and they still have that friendship with Christ who does not judge you, but only loves you.
CONCLUSION
So, the Church picks on this Gospel every three years to be proclaimed on the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time to let you know more about Jesus and His ever-abiding friendship with us in our marriages and in our divorces.