Memorial of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr

And now, Israel, what does the LORD, your God, ask of you but to fear the LORD, your God, and follow his ways exactly, to love and serve the LORD, your God, with all your heart and all your soul, to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD which I enjoin on you today for your own good?

Here we have a good road map of what it means to follow God’s Will. It means to fear disappointing Him. It means respecting God and following in His ways. It means to love and serve Him and His children with all our hearts and souls... with all our minds and strengths. It means to keep His commandments, to follow His teachings, and listen to and enact His inspirations. He asks us to do all these things for our own good because He loves us and wants only the best for us. Everything He does is for our good and the good of others and we would do well to remember that when we are undergoing trials and tribulations and are tempted to doubt His Love for us. He does not wish any ill upon us, but neither will He take away our free will to do good or evil. And if we suffer evil, we should rest assured that He will come to our aid.

Are we respectful of God and fearful of disappointing Him? How can we do a better job of knowing, loving, and serving Him with all our hearts and souls? In what ways can we learn to keep God’s commandments more faithfully?

O Lord, help us to follow your ways, now and forever.

Amen.

Memorial of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr

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.

As Jesus discusses marriage with his disciples, he makes it clear that marriage is not to be entered into lightly and leaving a marriage can only be done if it was unlawful to begin with. Marriage for Jesus is not a contract that can be broke, but rather a covenant between the husband, his wife, and God who joins them together. The man and woman are made one flesh in the eyes of God and so it cannot be reversed. This covenant places a responsibility upon both husband and wife to live their lives in harmony with each other and with God. In a world that has come to see marriage as a secular contract rather than a spiritual covenant, it can be hard for us to understand the permanency of marriage, but those who enter into a lawful marriage are permanently changed by it and connected to each other in the eyes of God. The standards that God holds us to are high, but they are the ones worth living up to no matter what.

Do we believe in the covenantal nature of marriage? Are we prepared to recognize the permanent responsibilities of being married? Do we fully respect those who are married and give them the support they need to stay together?

O Lord, let us always remember that what you have joined, we should not separate.

Amen.