Catholic.. today Reflection by Ref. Fr. Sebastian Sanni

HOMILY BY: 


Ref. Fr. Sebastian Sanni


But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. 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, no human being must separate.” Mark 10:6-9

          INSTITUTION  OF MARRIAGE

Those three words…”From the beginning” are keywords for our day and age.  It is important for people of faith to recognize not only the supernatural gifts God has given us, but also the natural gifts.  The supernatural gifts are all those gifts given us by the Cross of Christ.  His life, death and Resurrection poured forth upon us grace from Heaven and made holiness, salvation and Heaven possible.  But there is a whole other order of “gift” that God gave us that we often take for granted.  That’s the gift of nature.

Creation itself, the order of the Universe, our humanity and the natural design of God are all gifts.  Science can do much to discover the secrets and mysteries of the natural world, but ultimately a full understanding of even the natural world is mysterious, deep and awe-inspiring.

One aspect of the natural world God gave us is our sexuality.  “God made them male and female…”  This natural design is part of the glorious wisdom of the Creator and must be understood, loved and respected fully.  Being “male and female” is something that is quite obvious and naturally understood.  Within each person are certain attributes, desires, tendencies, etc., that go hand in hand with being either male or female. 

ANIMALS

Gay is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term was originally used to mean "carefree", "cheerful", or "bright .

A lesbian is a homosexual woman.^[1][2] The word lesbian is also used to describe women in terms of their sexual identity or sexual behavior regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexuality or same-sex attraction.^[2][3]

The concept of "lesbian", to differentiate women with a shared sexual orientation, is a 20th-century construct. Throughout history, women have not had the same freedom or independence to pursue homosexual relationships as men, but neither have they met the same harsh punishment as homosexual men in some societies. Instead, lesbian relationships have often been regarded as harmless and incomparable to heterosexual ones unless the participants attempted to assert privileges traditionally enjoyed by men. As a result, little in history was documented to give an accurate description of how female homosexuality is expressed. When early sexologists in the late 19th century began to categorize and describe homosexual behavior, hampered by a lack of knowledge about homosexuality or women's sexuality, they distinguished lesbians as women who did not adhere to female gender roles and incorrectly designated them mentally ill—a designation which has been reversed in the global scientific community. 

A Balinese Teenager who married to a flirtatious cow

However, an 18 year old teenager named Ngurah Alit, from Bali, was caught having intercourse with a cow! When he was questioned, he claimed that the cow had flirted with him. So in the year 2010, he was forcefully married to the cow to maintain a Pecaruan ritual – which is a ceremony to cleanse the village of the unholy man-cow intercourse act. One would think the cow got its punishment for being flirty, eh? 

STILL  REFLECTION......

In many ways, the uniqueness and complementarity of the sexes have been challenged and even disregarded at times, especially in our day and age.  But deep down we all understand that being male or female is part of who we are.  It makes up our very identity as a person and brings with it many blessings.  Femininity and masculinity, at times, also can become distorted and confused.  But in essence, these attributes of our personhood cannot be discarded or denied.  In fact, embracing who we are in our nature is nothing more than being honest and enables us to continue down the road of true natural integrity.

Reflect, today, upon the many ways that being “male and female” are natural blessings from God.  Reflect, also, upon the ways that these natural gifts are challenged and undermined in our world today.  Embrace who you are, embrace who God made you to be, and let that natural gift from God flourish in your life.

THINGS TO AVOID   IN MARRIAGE
1. GOSSIP
2. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 

Lord, I thank You for Your countless gifts.  Thank You for the gift of grace won by Your Cross, and thank You also for the gift of nature and for the way You made me.  Help me to embrace my full identity in accord with Your design and, in that embrace, help me to continue to discover my very dignity.  Jesus, I trust in You.

WHAT GIVES LIFE  TO MARRIAGE

1. PRAYER – TOBIT 8:4  When Sarah’s parents left the bedroom and closed the door behind them, Tobiah rose from bed and said to his wife, “My sister, come, let us pray and beg our Lord to grant us mercy and protection

2. VILIGANCE –MAT. 13:25  While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off.

3.  FORGIVENESS Everyone is sure that the Bible is full of messages about forgiveness, but when it comes down to it, few people can identify exactly what the text actually says about it.

4. COMMUNICATION At the core of every healthy marriage is the ability of a couple to successfully communicate with one another. Communication can be difficult because each individual may have a different background, experiences, and sometimes even culture, which all affect communication. In addition, 60 to 90% of all communication consists of body language, eye contact, facial expressions, and tone rather than words. Communication is a skill that must be learned and practiced in order to have a successful marriage.