Sermon Notes for Homilists and Religion Teachers.    Embargo:  Catholics are welcome to read after Noon, Sunday

 

MOST STUPID WOMAN IN THE WORLD

27 Sunday (B)  Oct. 5, 2003

 

            One day a young man came to the rectory.  He said:  “Father, I have been married for two years. I am thinking of getting a divorce.  I don’t think my wife and I are compatible. He explained:  My wife is the most stupid woman in the whole world!”   Before I tell you how this ended, I would like to introduce today’s gospel.

 

            I smiled with relief and announced: “Mr. Choy, I can assure you that you are your wife are perfectly compatible.”  I explained:  “Mr. Choy any man who marries the most stupid woman in the world must be extraordinarily stupid.  You are obviously meant for this woman.” I was afraid that I may have said something to hurt his feelings.  But I looked out the window.  I saw him meet his wife outside the church where she was waiting.  He gave her a big hug and he had tears running down his cheeks.  In April, they celebrated their marriage anniversary and their forty years of absolute faithfulness.  [1]

             

MARK’S PERSPECTIVE:  After announcing for the second time his death and resurrection, Jesus addresses some very practical catechetical problems.  I suspect that there has been some marriage problems in Mark’s little Roman community.

 

Mark’s gospel is a handbook for martyrs. Perhaps some married couples in the little Roman community were suffering a daily and living martyrdom because of marriage problems.

 

Maybe a husband and wife have stopped talking to each other and making the children sad. Or perhaps some non-Christian young people in Rome were saying:  “Well, I will get married.  But if it doesn’t work out I can always get a divorce.” Or perhaps some young people started living together: “We don’t need a courtship. Why don’tInstead we will just live together for awhile to see if we get along well?.    So Mark recalls Jesus teaching on marriage.

 

 

Now back to my interview with the distraught husband. I smiled with relief and announced: “Mr. Choy, I can assure you that you and your wife are perfectly compatible.” I explained:  “Mr. Choy any man who marries the most stupid woman in the world must be extraordinarily stupid.  You are obviously meant for this woman.” I was afraid that I may have said something to hurt his feelings.  But later I looked out the window.  I saw him meet his wife outside the church where she was waiting.  He gave her a big hug. They both had tears running down their cheeks.  In April, they celebrated their marriage anniversary and their forty years of absolute faithfulness.

 

 

GOD’S POINT OF VIEW: This morning’s passage is certainly an abbreviated version of a much longer sermon.  Jesus sermon on marriage must gone something like thisJesus uses an outlandish illustration. “So Mr. Wong goes to the doctor and says: “The left side of my body is having a disagreement with the right side of my body.  Doctor, please cut my body in half!”

 

So the doctor cuts Mr. Wong in two parts.  Try to imagine! Each side would only be half a man—hoppping around on one leg.  And, of course there would be tremendous pain. Jesus listeners would have had belly aches from laughing.

 

 

Now that Jesus has their attention, he delivers the message:Today, Jesus then says:  “In marriage, a man and woman become one body.

 

no longer two

  but one body.”

 

You can’t cut in half this one body created in marriage.  Nor can you temporarily paste two halves together without them becoming one body.  (Fornication) Of course,  many people in Rome did so and it was a disaster.  The disaster not only caused the man and woman personal pain but also affected their children, their children’s children and indeed all of Roman society.

 

CHURCH’S POINT OF VIEW #1648 “It can seem difficult, even impossible, to bind oneself for life to another human being.  This makes it all the more important to proclaim the Good News that God loves us with a definite and irrevocable love, that married couples share in this love, that it supports and sustains them, and that by their own faithfulness they can be witnesses to God’s faithful love.”

 

It can also happen that married people can remain together but without any love for each other.  This, too, is a “divorce of hearts.” We know that Jesus is compassionate to married couples in difficulties.  Jesus continues to love deeply those who have entered civil divorces.  But he reminds all the married folks and those preparing for marriage that they are entering an

 

UNBREAKABLE COMMITMENT TO

ABSOLUTE FAITHFULNESS.

 

 

 

 

 

 

OUR RESPONSE:

 

1.      What kind of support can we at St. Patrick’sOur Lady of Fatima give to our married couples and our young people preparing for marriage?  When was the last time this was discussed at a parish council meeting?

1.       

 

2.      Do we, at our Lady of Fatima St. Patrick’s, spend so much time with programs for the children that we have no time to minister to their parents?

 

3.      Children when is the last time that you said to your parents? 

 

 

Dear Mom and Dad: Thank-you for loving each other and putting up with each other’s faults all these years.    Thank-you for giving me an idea of God’s absolute faithfulness.  When I get married I, too, will be absolutely faithful to my beloved wife or husband like you, mom and dad, —even if we have a lot of   misunderstandings or I discover that I am married to the most stupid person on earth.”.

 

 

Would you like to tell them right now your parents right now?  I’ll give you a couple of minutes.

 

We are grateful to all youour married couples.  Because of their  your presence in Our Lady of FatimaSt. Patrick’s community community. You give us , you living examplesreflect to us  of God’s absolute faithfulness.  Keep up the good work!

 

  Why don’t we ask them to stand up! Let us give praise for these examples of God’s absolute faithfulness here on Cheung.!

PASTORAL HOMILETIC NOTES AND STUFF

27 Sunday (B)  Oct. 5, 2003

 

ONE WORD: FAITHFULNESS

 

TWO WORDS:  MARRIAGE FAITHFULNESS

 

THEME:  In marriage, a man and woman promise each other absolute faithfulness.

 

TEXT:  “’Moses allowed us’, they said, ‘to draw up a write of dismissal and so to divorce.”

 

DESIRED RESULT: Last week,

 

INTRO TO MASS:

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH:  #1648 “It can seem difficult, even impossible, to bind oneself for life to another human being.  This makes it all the more important to proclaim the Good News that God loves us with a definite and irrevocable love, that married couples share in this love, that it supports and sustains them, and that by their own faithfulness they can be witnesses to God’s faithful love.  Spouse who with God’s grace give this witness, often in very difficult conditions, deserve the gratitude and support of the ecclesial community. (Familiaris consortio #20,) Catechism of the Catholic Church, (Mission Hills: Benziger Publishing Co, 1994),  #1648, p. 411.

 

TIDBITS:  Sometimes when Catholics have divorced, they may feel that they are no longer welcome to prayer with the Catholic community.  But in one U.S.A archdiocese the Cardinal yearly invites all divorced Catholics to a special prayer service and tea.  In that way, he shows the continued compassion and concern of the Church for them and the desire to make them feel a part of our Christian family.

 

 

……………………………………………………………………………………ILLUSTRATION

 

CHEWING THE WORD OF GOD

27 Sunday (B)  Oct. 5, 2003

 

 

Chewing, Digesting and Practicing God’s Word

When the word of God is not chewed and digested, we place it in  1.  M_______   people are a s_____ of God’s  a____________  f___________.

2.       In his teachings on marriage, Jesus uses the ridiculous example of the man who

wanted to c___ his  b____  in two because the l_____   side said it was incompatible with the r_____ side.

3.    In preparation for marriage, a suitable period of c__________ is essential.

4.       Think of someone you know who had a divorce?  What was the worst thing about this divorce?  ______________________________________________.

5.       Name a practical thing that you and your friends could do to help young people to appreciate the sacrament of matrimony? _______________________________.

6.       (Optional-Extra points) Explain to a friend who has absolutely no religious beliefs why she should not start living with her boyfriend.

(Hint:  martyrs,  family, catholic, baby, live,  courtship, signs, serious, lovely, religious.)

 



     [1] (ThisNot all illustrations does not fulfill requirements for strict journalistic accuracy and is not my personal experience. It was told me by another priest whose humor I appreciate but whose veracity I doubt. But this story illustrates beautifully the doctrine of “absolute faithfulness” in the stormy living out of connubial bliss.).  )