Homily for 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Homily for the
27th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Oct. 6, 2024
Gen 2: 18-24
Mark 10: 2-12
The Fountains, Tuckahoe, N.Y.

At my 2 Bronx parishes, this week I continue commenting on the Creed.  The Ursulines and other residents at this assisted living home get a homily just for them.     

“The Lord God said, ‘It’s not good for the man to be alone.  I’ll make a suitable partner for him’” (Gen 9: 18).

The Creation of Eve (Raphael)

On the basis of the creation account in Genesis ch. 2, Jesus gives us divine teaching on the unity and permanence of marriage:  “they are no longer two but one flesh” (Mark 10:8).  Jesus’ teaching is the foundation for the sacrament of marriage, made holy by the sign he worked at the wedding in Cana, a sign of blessing, by his teaching, and by St. Paul’s expansion on his teaching.

What Genesis teaches also is foundational:  man and woman are “suitable partners,” equals coming from God’s own hand and intention, for mutual help and support of each other.

Christian teaching takes that further by noting that marriage is a sacramental sign—a sign of Christ’s permanent, unitive love for his Church.  St. Paul teaches that the Church is the body of Christ.  Husband and wife imitate Christ’s love for his body in their love for each other; they are the living sacrament of God’s love for humanity.

Most of you answered God’s call to the vocation of marriage.  Thank you for answering that call, for your love and fidelity—for your spouse, for your family, for Jesus himself.

Our Ursuline sisters also have responded to a vocational call—to a mystical marriage to our Lord Jesus.  Sisters are rightly called “brides of Christ,” and many of them, if not all, adorn themselves like brides when they make their final vows.  They, too, are signs of the Church’s enduring love for Christ and his faithful love for all of us.  Thank you, sisters!

The Church has always seen itself as feminine, as the bride of Christ.  A priest is called alter Christus, “another Christ.”  Wedded to the Church, he is a sacramental sign; he is Christ the groom in relation to the bride.  That’s perhaps the main reason why the Church insists the priest be male.

Before Communion, we proclaim, “Blessed are those called to the supper of the Lamb.”  That’s taken from the Book of Revelation, 19:9, which in full reads, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb,” i.e., to the Lamb’s wedding reception.  Two verses before that, Revelation says, “The marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready” (v. 7).  Our holy Communion is a celebration of our bridal union with Jesus.

The Wedding Feast of the Lamb
(St. Mark's Basilica, Venice)

God has joined us together, Christ and his Church, in a faithful, permanent marriage—his plan “from the beginning of creation” (Mark 10:6)—a marriage that will be fully consummated  when “the holy city, the new Jerusalem, comes down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev 21:2), and we are united in love with the Lamb of God for eternity.