Read: Ephesians 5:21-33, Ps. 128:1-5, Luke 13:18-21
“Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church… Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” (Ephesians 5:22-25)
In St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians today, we get to see two vital ingredients in marriage; love and respect. Love and respect are not two separate entities entirely; just as love is not complete without respect, respect is nothing without love. The kind of words we use with our spouses determines the direction of their lives. Are you the wife or the husband who never stops insulting their spouse? Repent!
In today’s Gospel passage, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a grain of mustard seed which starts very small but soon grows to become a thousand times bigger than the seed. Quarrels and fights in marriage are like grains of mustard seed. When these fights are not forgiven, they become like pieces of debris that we fail to take off.
Little quarrels pile up in our memories little by little and before we know it, they affect the quality of our love for our spouse. The person we once trusted with all our hearts becomes someone else in our eyes. Once that trust is gone, little mistakes become magnified; we become blind to the good aspects of our spouse and what was once love becomes hate.
Love is a fire, if it is not properly fed with fuel, it quenches. Rather than trying to win that fight or that argument, focus more on pouring fuel into the fire of your love. One lesson the story of “Beauty and the Beast” teaches us is that love brings out the best in people. Every “Beast” needs “Beauty”. Love your spouse not because they deserve it but because you are Beauty.
Whenever you consciously do something to hurt your spouse deliberately, it always backfires. On the day of your marriage, you were no longer two people, but one person. Treat your spouse with all the love and respect you can muster just as you would treat your leg or hand that is wounded. You don’t cut off a hand or leg because it is injured, you treat it.
Surely, it might not heal immediately (humans are naturally difficult), but you have to apply patience as Jesus explains in today’s Gospel passage, little drops of love on a daily basis would grow into a big tree (a changed person).
Let us pray: Heavenly Father, we commit our marriages and families to you. Restore love and respect in our homes. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Tuesday of week 30 in Ordinary Time. Bible Study: Ephesians 5:21-33, Ps. 128:1-5, Luke 13:18-21)
© Rev. Fr. Evaristus Abu