Wedding Homily for Jeff Page and Sarah Huffmeyer, 7 May 2011
Chapel of the Immaculate Conception, Oldenburg, IN
Jeff and Sarah, it is an honor, a privilege, but most of all a joy to be with you on this holy day! Let us not be alarmed by the rain… it is a symbol in the Scriptures of God’s grace and mercy which He pours out upon us to bring life, grace, and healing! As we come to these final moments leading up to the Sacrament of Marriage which you are about to enter, the Church calls us to turn to the Word of God to prepare our hearts. You have chosen these readings well and prayerfully, for which I thank you.
We begin, very appropriately, in the beginning! God made us! This was His first gift to us, life… not only did He make us in love, but He made the whole beautiful buzzing world for us! As farmers, engineers, and foresters, you and your families understand and experience daily what it means to use this gift well and wisely. Our lives and the world in which we live are not finally random, but an intentional and loving gift for which we give thanks.
Fro
m the VERY beginning, God created man and woman in His image and likeness…He gave us the ability to know, and the ability to love. From the very beginning, He called men and women to marriage. Marriage is not something we have created or imagined ourselves, not something we are free to define as we please… it is a gift from God. Like the very gift of life, like the gift of the world around us, it is to be received, cherished, and nurtured with love. As God calls you into marriage with each other, that is not a generic or general invitation, but a very specific call to each other… of all the infinite number of people God could create, He chose to create you, and to create you for each other… How He loves us! These precious gifts of life were not enough… God has not only created each one of us with love, but in the midst of our brokenness and need, He redeemed us and gave the gift of new life in Christ. At your baptism, you became adopted children of God, members of Christ’s body the Church. In Christ, marriage becomes a sacrament, a visible sign of an invisible reality. Your second reading speaks to this very directly. I appreciate your boldness and courage in choosing this reading… it is the very heart of the Church’s theology of marriage, but many misunderstand Paul and the Church. The word “submissive” rings out, and anger flares, or hurt. Let us listen carefully, because what Paul actually says is very beautiful, and VERY challenging! Listen to the very first line… “Follow the way of love, even as Christ loved you. He gave himself for us. Defer to one another out of reverence for Christ.” This call to defer, to submit, comes to each of you. You are to imitate Christ who gave Himself for us, who loved us even unto death, death on a Cross. We have just celebrated that highest and most central feast of Christian Life, the Sacred Triduum, Easter. The gift of self that Jesus Christ made on the Cross, the gift of self that led Him into the tomb and even into the depths of Hell, that gift of self for us brought Resurrection, Victory, and Joy! The authentic gift of self, the surrender of one’s life and heart into God’s hands leads to true life.
If anything, Jeff, Paul puts you on the spot even more than your wife. Listen to his instructions to you! “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church. He gave himself up for her…” You know what Christ did for His Church, for us… Remember Holy Thursday, remember Good Friday. Out of love
for us, Jesus was condemned, mocked, beaten, crowned with thorns, burdened with the Cross, crucified. He shed every drop of sweat, every ounce of blood in Him for us, for His bride, the Church. This is your calling, to lay down your life, even unto death, to lay down every drop of sweat and life and blood in your veins for Sarah, who will be your wife, even unto death… to empty yourself in love for her, even as our Lord did for you, for us. Marriage will not be easy, life is not easy… the Church is very honest about this! You will be called to give in ways you cannot now imagine, but you will NOT be alone! Sarah, as you place yourselves freely into your husband’s arms, as you entrust your very life to him, he is to entrust his very life to you, heart, body, mind, & soul. This is Christian Marriage, and this is a mystery, a sacrament, that teaches us about Christ’s love for us. Every sacrament is a visible sign of an invisible reality… the visible sign for the world is your love for each other, and it is meant to teach all of us who see it about Christ’s love for us… Husbands and wives, this is the challenge, the invitation… as you love each other, as you love your children, the world should say… ahhh, now I understand a little more how much God loves me!
This is a daunting challenge… to enter into this gift of self freely, to give yourselves totally, holding nothing back, to be faithful to each unto death, and to be open to the gift of life from God… this is Christian marriage, and humanly, it is implausible! It is not possible merely by human strength… but with God, all things are possible! To live this call is to be, like Christ, a sign of contradiction to a world that is very confused, very sad, filled with hurt and falsehood. To live this call is to be a beacon of hope… not because either one of you is perfect, not because you will not make mistakes, but because God’s love at work in you is stronger and more beautiful than any challenge or struggle you may face! We come, here, to our Gospel, to the beatitudes! These sayings are poetic, but in worldly terms, they are silliness, they are pipe dreams. In this world, the poor in spirit, the sorrowing, the lowly, the peacemakers often come up short. But in light of God and eternity, they chart for us the mysterious path of the Gospel. Jeff and Sarah, they chart for you the path of joy in your marriage… to be little and humble before your spouse, ready to admit your failures and ask forgiveness… to long for holiness as a deer longs for running streams, and to lead each other to that life of prayer and truth…to show mercy and to make peace. “Be glad and rejoice, for your reward in heaven is great!”
You begin your marriage here in this beautiful church, a place, Sarah, where you have worshipped, a place where the gift of faith given you by your family was strengthened and nourished. Jeff and Sarah, we have prayed together today, we have listened together to the word of God. Do not stop seeking the Lord in this way… they say that the family that prays together, stays together… this is true! We added a new clause when you visited me last month…the family that traps and prays together, stays together and is warm in their beaver hats! All jesting aside, stay together before the Lord… stay close to the Lord in prayer, in His Word, in the sacraments. In just a few moments, you will enter into the sacrament of marriage, and that sacrament will be sealed by the gift of the Eucharist, the gift of the Lord’s body, blood, soul, and divinity. Jesus who gave Himself to us on the cross, Jesus who calls you to imitate that gift of self in your marriage, pouring out your lives for each other, that same Jesus continues to come to us, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity, under the humble appearance of bread and wine. He not only calls you to holiness, but He gives Himself to you, giving you all the grace and strength you need, if you will but receive it. Enter this sacrament today in humble joy, and receive the Lord once joined in marriage as one body, one love… be filled with Him who died for us!
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