Three weeks ago, I attended the marriage of my niece, Maura, and her husband, Jacob, in a beautiful Basilica in Chicago. Both Maura and Jacob are from large Catholic families, so they planned their nuptial Mass with all our rich church traditions and invited us to celebrate with them. It was a very special occasion.
It will probably not surprise you to know that this young couple did not choose our first reading today for their ceremony! Talk of wives being subordinate and of husbands being their heads would not have resonated with this young couple who relate to each other so differently in our culture.
It might surprise them, and us, however, to know that when Paul wrote these directives 2,000 years ago about how couples should relate, that these instructions were revolutionary for their times. His listeners, who were new Christians of Israel, were still subject to Roman influence and therefore had grown up believing that wives, children and slaves were considered the male’s property with no legal rights. It was radical, then, for Paul to even address women in their own right as individuals. To the men, Paul was encouraging them to reconsider these pagan ways of domination and begin to practice the new principles of Christianity as illustrated by the example of Christ who related to all with respect, dignity, and compassion.
St. Paul uses the metaphor of a Christ-centered marriage to explain Christ’s relationship with the Church. Christ, the Bridegroom, loves his church so much that he even lays down his life for his Bride, the Church, as Paul says: “Christ is head of the Church, he himself the savior of the Body”.
Christ loves his church, of which we are all members by our baptism, and relates to us with compassion, servant leadership, empathy and in community. He prays for us, inspires us, walks with us, and heals us through the sacraments. We, the members, follow Christ’s lead.
This beloved church of Christ is lived out in our homes, otherwise known as the ‘domestic church’, and in the workplace, the marketplace, and the world stage. To imitate Christ as members of his universal church, especially in our society now, is to be kind, unselfish, and thoughtful of others. This is the way of Christ, the way of his church, and the way we strive daily to relate to one another. This is how Maura and Jacob entered into their relationship, their sacrament of marriage, and witnessed to the rest of us what Christ wants for us. St. Paul says: “Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
We are the church whom Christ loves, heals and forgives. May we carry Christ's love to all whom we meet and influence today.
