August 17, 2012. Homily Friday, August 17, 2012

Ezekiel 16:1-15, 60, 63

a paean to one's new spouse on the form of a paean to Israel

Matthew 19:1-12

Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?"  He said in reply, "Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? So, they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate." They said to him, "Then why did Moses command that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss her?" He said to them, "Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery."  His disciples said to him, "If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry." He answered, "Not all can accept this word, but only those to whom that is granted. Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it."
The Gospel of the Lord.

homily:
Father Abraham has a cold and asked me to substitute 
50 years of marriage

the story of taking Nicole as a youngster to the Central Park Zoo to baby sit while her parents went out, the parents informing Nicole and Nicole's response: "Happy".

the call to **** and ***, **** responds and when I asked to speak to her husband, referred to her daughter.  Why not ***,  because we are not speaking. How long has than been going on? Two weeks.  *** gets on phone. I sympathize that they are not speaking. ***: Oh, really. How long has that been going on?  Me: some two weeks.

my father and mother to Hot Springs for NAM for 20 years, come to meet couples, then a divorce, then the new spouse, and my fatehrs' observation that the new spouse came to resemble to old spouse, just 20 years younger.  So divorce does not help for we make our spouses what they become.

Time makes us good at making our spouses happy.