Beloved Family:
Recently, I wished someone a happy belated birthday. Very cordially— if directly—the individual replied, “Really, it ought to be phrased, ‘belated happy birthday’…the occasion occurred, it is the greeting that is delayed.”Gratefully, we learn things every day!
In that spirit, I want to extend to married persons: “Belated Happy World Marriage Day.” In my mind, I had it occurring this Sunday, when in reality it was on February 9—February 7-14 being World Marriage Week. My greeting is behind; the importance of acknowledging Marriage surpasses any delay. The following is cited from resources published by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:
As the Church participates in National Marriage Week and the Jubilee of Hope, the importance of humility in the covenant of marriage is worth a bit of timely reflection. Of all the virtues that complement marital love, humility strengthens the marriage bond at its core. Humility encourages selfless generosity between spouses and makes a couple's marital love more resilient.
When spouses humbly offer love to each other, the daily familial bumps and bruises that
happen heal more quickly. With each gesture of humility, whether in word or action, the pursuit of lasting love becomes more than just a fanciful idea; it finds a home where it is lived and felt. When spouses are humble before each other, love grows.
The Eucharist is an immense source of strength for all Christians seeking to live humbly. At each celebration of Christ’s sacrificial love, we begin by acknowledging our sins and brokenness in the penitential rite and then are fed at the table of the Word of God and in the sacrament of his body and blood. Strengthened and nourished, we are blessed and sent forth as renewed disciples as his humble servants. When we gather, stand, and kneel to celebrate the Lord's love for us, we are saying by our presence, "Save me, Lord, because I cannot save myself.”
The willingness to be humble before God and neighbor is never easy. Humility is a demanding virtue. Often, every fiber of our being resists being humble. The classic country song by Mac Davis hits the nail on the head, “O Lord, it is hard to be humble when you are perfect in every way.”
How does a person grow in humility? Blessed Solanus Casey wrote by being humiliated.
Blessed Casey’s straightforward answer is insightful and almost funny because it is so true. He wrote, “God knows we need humiliations whereby we can foster humility. Hence in His love, He never fails to provide occasions for each one to practice penance which means in other words to check self-conceit and, with God's help, to get somewhere in humility.”
Michael H. Crosby, Thank God Ahead of Time: The Life and Spirituality of Solanus Casey (Cincinnati, Ohio: Franciscan Media, 2009), 139.
Every life vocation demands humility, if it is to be lived out fully. Whether or not you, reading this, is currently living out the Marriage vocation, I challenge you to make a very conscious, intentional effort to speak words of encouragement to, and offer some form of prayerful sacrifice on behalf of, married couples and couples preparing for Matrimony.
Let His Peace be with you,
Fr. Stephen
