This weekend I will be away on a Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekend celebrating the joy of God’s call for man and woman to live in grace filled and joyous relations within the sacramental blessing of our Catholic tradition.
Our reading, this Sunday of the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:5-42) is a wonderful reflection on Christian conversion, hope and relationship with Jesus Christ. It is also a blessing to reflect on our sacramental life, especially the life of husband and wife as we sit and listen to the words Jesus speaks and the responses of the woman.
When we thirst, as the woman at the well thirsts, it is only satisfied in the plan God has designed for us, especially the design of the sacramental marriage of man and woman. The thirst of life is satisfied in the union of love with God as He is united to the couple in the unity of marriage.
Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen shares this wisdom with the Church, “The basis of unity is the fact that in this bond two persons are joined together so as to become “one flesh.” this inviolable bond according to our Divine Savior…The unity of two in one flesh is not just biological, as it is in animals, Rather, it has a spiritual and psychic quality understood by few.” (“Three to Get Marriage” p 123-24) We are reminded that made in the image and likeness of God we choose to seek unity and to seek it within the exclusive and holy relationship of spousal care. It the call to holiness by which our thirst is given a direction to be satisfied with not simply the earthly desire but the ultimate goal heavenly love.
St. Pope John Paul II continues this understanding proclaiming the divine love and the sacramental love given and shared is the life giving water energizing and bringing hope into our family relationships. He writes, “This communion is rooted in the natural bonds of flesh and blood and grows to it specifically human perfection with the establishment and maturing of the still deeper and richer bonds of the spirit. The love that animates the interpersonal relationships of the different members of the family constitutes the interior strength that shapes and animates the family communion and community.” ( Familiaris Consortio #21) It is the reality of a maturing love, a love growing and deepening in the vital gifts of sharing faith through acts of charity, forgiveness and mercy, receiving and giving in the joys and sadness of life.
The United States Bishops in their catechesis on marriage help us to see, as noted above, the unity with God, a life of faith draws us deeper into eternal life and love of marriage, where the permanent bond shared in life is sustained in embracing the cross of Jesus Christ in the divine “yes” echoing in the marital vows of love. They write, “No mortal can satisfy all our longings. Real marital unity is based on God’s covenant, a covenant which welcomes erotic desire, but which even more fundamentally commits mean and women to each other in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer. Christian marriage is not a romantic audition or a conditional arrangement “until further notice.” A so-called trial marriage.” (Love is Our Mission #58) It is in the passionate bond, where the hopes and dreams of life are shared and fulfilled that grace in built upon and the image and reality of the Most Holy Trinity shines forth in life.
Finally, Pope Frances shares with us this beautiful and powerful understanding of marriage, where marital love goes beyond the passions of the moment and deepens into the friendship which supports the growth of holiness in the spouse. He notes, “After the love that unites us to God, conjugal love is the ‘greatest form of friendship.’ It is a union possessing all the traits of a good friendship: concern for the good of the other, reciprocity, intimacy, warmth, stability and the resemblance born of a shared life. Marriage joins to all this an indissoluble exclusivity expressed in the stable commitment to share and safe tougher the whole of life.” (Amoris Laetitia #123) It is a friendship that endures through the vows prayed and shared built upon in the enduring love of God.
God bless