Rejoicing with Our Marriage Jubilarians

By Bishop Paul S. Loverde
Special to the Herald
(From the issue of 10/27/05)

The following homily was given by Arlington Bishop Paul S. Loverde at the Marriage Jubilee Mass on Oct. 23 at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More.

For 28 years, members of our diocesan family have been gathering to celebrate this Marriage Jubilee Mass. Of course, each year since 1978, different people have assembled, but every time they did so, it was the one Diocesan Church of Arlington celebrating in joy, in gratitude and in hope.

So, on this beautiful fall afternoon, we gather once again (1) to give thanks for the witness of our golden and silver jubilarians — 69 golden jubilarians and 106 silver jubilarians, and (2) with all who are present here, to pray that these jubilarians remain deeply rooted in the Lord and through Him become ever more united in their love for each other. Indeed, we rejoice that one couple, Louis and Patricia Kirk, celebrating their golden jubilee are joined by their son and daughter-in-law, Kevin and Lisa Kirk, celebrating their silver jubilee! The family is the first place where vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life are nurtured. This afternoon two couples celebrating their golden jubilee are parents of priests: Alfred and Elizabeth Abe, parents of Father John Abe, a priest of the Diocese of Richmond, and Deacon Gene and Patricia deLadurantaye, parents of Father Paul deLadurantaye, a priest of the Diocese of Arlington, and the Master of Ceremonies at today’s Liturgy.

The Gospel account, proclaimed moments ago in our hearing, places before us the scene of the Wedding Feast at Cana. The Catechism of the Catholic Church makes the following observation: "On the threshold of his public life Jesus performs his first sign — at his mother’s request — during a wedding feast. The Church attaches great importance to Jesus’ presence at the wedding at Cana. She sees in it the confirmation of the goodness of marriage and the proclamation that henceforth marriage will be an efficacious sign of Christ’s presence" (No.1623).

Dear Jubilarians, sisters and brothers all, let us apply the scene of the Wedding Feast at Cana to our Jubilee celebration. Surely, there was much joy at that wedding at Cana. There is much joy here as well! We rejoice and give thanks for the faithful witness which our jubilarians have given these past 50 and 25 years — their witness to the dignity and sanctity of marriage; their witness to persevering fidelity and love in the midst of joy and sorrow, of health and sickness, of accomplishment and failure; their witness to the truth that it takes three to become married and to remain married: the husband, the wife and Jesus!

At the wedding at Cana, Jesus was present. Indeed, as the Gospel account reminds us, at his mother’s request, Jesus assisted the newly wed couple by working his first sign — changing water into wine. Certainly, Jesus is present to each one of us, whatever our individual vocation. This afternoon, we are reflecting on how Jesus has been present to our jubilarians. During the 50 and 25 years of their marriages, the Lord has been helping them to be, in their union with each other, the living sign of His union with the Church, "an efficacious sign of Christ’s presence." The Lord Jesus has been present to them, transforming the water of their human love into the wine of Gospel-love, having within it the power to persevere and to remain faithful, no matter what has happened to them.

Yes, Jesus has been present in the lives of our jubilarians and in our lives too. He must continue to be present to them and to us everyday. So, together, we need to open ourselves to His transforming presence. This we do by daily prayer, imitating Tobiah and Sarah, who prayed on their wedding night, as today’s first reading reminds us. We especially must be present to Christ as He renews His Dying and Rising before us at every Mass and as He remains among us through His Real Presence in the Blessed Sacrament. Today, at Rome, the Synod on the Eucharist concluded. Both this Synod and the entire Year of the Eucharist, which began last October, had for their goal a deepened understanding and appreciation among all Catholics of Jesus’ Eucharistic Presence, the greatest treasure given to us by the Lord Himself. Married couples and indeed every disciple find in the Lord, present to us in the Eucharist, the source of our life and love. Even more, only in Him are we able to live the love He calls us to live in the concrete circumstances of our individual vocations. Only in Jesus can we love as St. Paul urges us to do in today’s second reading: love is patient, kind, not jealous, not pompous, not inflated, not rude, not seeking its own interest, not quick-tempered, not brooding over injury, not rejoicing over wrongdoing. Rather, love transformed by Christ rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love transformed by Christ never fails.

Because of Jesus’ first sign at the wedding at Cana, his disciples began to believe in Him. Dear Jubilarians, because of the witness or sign you have already given and will continue to give, may peoples everywhere regain or be confirmed in their understanding of what marriage truly means: the union of one man with one woman, a couple living in faithful and persevering love until death and open to transmitting new human life. How much we need your witness in our contemporary society where human life is attacked at its very beginning at conception, where marriage is being redefined by legislatures and courts in defiance of God’s plan, where openness to children is denied, again in ways contrary to God’s plan. We pray that your witness, dear jubilarians and dear married couples everywhere, will lead people to reclaim and defend marriage as it is intended by the Creator Himself.

Yes, the Wedding Feast at Cana has been relived here in our midst as we celebrate our 28th Marriage Jubilee Mass. May Our Blessed Mother intercede for all of us and especially for you, our beloved jubilarians, as she did for the Cana couple. "Do whatever He tells you," she says, and Jesus tells us to love God and one another faithfully and perseveringly until we reach the eternal Wedding Feast of heaven! Let it be! Amen!

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