Be Faithful in Small Things

Homily

Tuesday of the 30th Week in Ordinary Time B

St. Lawrence Catholic Center

26 October 2010

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Yes, even the vocation director, the recruiter of priests for the Archdiocese, has to preach on marriage once in awhile. St. Paul forces my hand today with his high theology of marriage presented in the letter to the Ephesians. Which is ok. I really don't mind. The vocation director recruiting for priests has to know a lot about marriage actually, for almost every guy who considers the priesthood naturally considers marriage first. This is natural, and good, but of course can be overdone. A guy can discern marriage for so long that he never gives priority to discerning priesthood. And I guess that's my job. That's where I come in, to allow the supernatural call of the priesthood to come in when it needs to. Well, see here. I am preaching about priesthood anyway, but still, for most guys the discernment between marriage and priesthood is spiritually very difficult. It is a close call in the hearts of most guys ,and it is a confusing discernment, because the two calls can exist side by side. They are mutually exclusive practically by the promises made, but there is room for both vocations in the heart of a man. Yet in fact, this is good as well. Even though I will never turn down a guy who desires the priesthood almost to the exclusion of desiring marriage, the priesthood must be renewed, especially today given what has and is transpiring in the priesthood and in the culture, by guys who are fit for sacramental marriage, by guys who have a generous capacity to lay down their lives as natural husbands and fathers, and by guys who in knowing the great good of marriage sacrifice it out of love for the Lord and His Church, and in obedience to His call to be spiritual fathers. Indeed, it is not good for the Archdiocese to accept a man who does not understand marriage well, who has not discerned it fairly, or who is uncapable of it.

Some people tell me that we will not have great religious vocations until we first fix marriage. Well, I'm not sure about that. I know you can't have priests and religious without marriage, and I know I'm glad my dad was not a priest, yet deep down we know the vocations complement each other and feed off each other. Marriage, as we see clearly in St. Paul's letter, is fed by the Eucharist. The lifetime marriage of man and wife is a imitation of and participation in the eternal marriage of Christ and the Church. That is why a man and wife come into the sanctuary to make their vows, the place where the Eucharist is consecrated, the place where Christ is subordinate to us His bride the Church, and it is why their first act as a married couple is to receive the Eucharist, and it is by the Eucharist that their marriage vows are sealed and made perfect for the rest of their lives. So the vocations of priesthood and marriage feed off each other in a particularly beautiful way, and although I personally don't have time for all my friends to get married and then have kids who will one day be priests, since barring some unforseen circumstance I will not be the vocation director that long, still if that is what the Lord wills, I can muster the patience for it. Both marriage and the priesthood are in desperate need of renewal, and I suppose it doesn't really matter which comes first, and there is no reason they can't be renewed simultaneously.

After St. Paul gives us the high theology of marriage, Jesus gives us the sure path to fulfilling our vows. He shows us what it takes to be fruitful. We are to be like a mustard seed and like yeast, for the one who is faithful in small matters, will be given great responsibilities. Jesus Himself, who is before all else came to be, was made so small as to have been conceived in the womb of a small girl, in an out of the way place, being born in an obscure way. Jesus Himself is the yeast and the mustard seed, who in being smaller than we could possibly hope for or imagine, makes Himself available to us in the Eucharist, in every time and place, and gives His life for the growth of His body, the Church, until it comes to full stature. May we imitate His humility in being faithful to the vocation God has given to us and to no one else. Let us be faithful in the smallest of ways, not being discouraged by what we have yet failed to accomplish, but letting the smallest of prayers and acts of love made in faith blossom until God's Kingdom comes to full stature.