Wedding Feast of Cana

Fr. Tighe gave a beautiful homily today reflecting on the sacredness of the Sacrament of Marriage.  I wanted to share some phrases that struck me in particular.

Mothers are the primary vocation directors within the Church.

What a blessing and a responsibility!  Which raises other thoughts in my mind . . . Is our vocations crisis today largely due to mothers failing in thier calling to foster and encourage religious vocations?  I can already see, from my few months with Baby James, how easy it would be for a mother to be selfish and to be afraid to face a life apart from thier precious boy or girl.  The idea that my boy could be called to be a priest in another country or in a monastery (or married and far from home) takes courage to face.  However, having seen the joy that can be found in discovering one's vocation, my deepest desire for my son is that he too will discover and follow God's plan for him.  My mother-in-law once wisely said that, in a sense, we raise our children (espeically boys) to give them away.  May God bless me with the needed detachment to love my son 110% and still to support him 110% in his pursuit of God's will.

When you have problems in your marriage it's because of sin, because of selfishness.  You deal with the sin, and your marriage will be repaired.

Too often, we see men and women (like Adam & Eve) pointing the finger of blame at a spouse.  It's his anoying habits, her credit card bill, his work, and her over-sensitivity . . . Rather, we should make a resolution to rid ourselves of the excuses covering the broken and dirty areas of our hearts.  Family prayer may be the glue that sticks a family together; frequent Confession and an honest examination of conscience is what cleans out the grit and grime so that "glue" can stick.  I'm incredibly blessed to be married to a faithful, loving, and godly man, but that doesn't mean that we too have not and will not reach obstacles that we need to work through together.

Jesus, help all married couples and parents to imitate your parents, Joseph & Mary, as they struggle to create a domestic church and lead each other to heaven.