Making our Marriages Strong (Homily Excerpts-5th Sunday Ordinary Time)

A few years back someone asked me about the success of my marriage.

• My first thought was that the word success was a good word to us. 
• A successful marriage takes works.
• Each Man and woman in a marriage are different.
• They bring different personalities and traits to a marriage.
• Marriage must be nurtured and cultivated to grow.
• Marriage is not a stagnant relationship.
• It is alive thus a marriage must grow as we grow in wisdom and maturity.

Married love is based on giving.

• Jesus gave of himself totally by his Passion.
• In marriage the gift to give then is the gift of one’s total self. 
• The gift of oneself is given without resentment, 
• It is to put the needs of someone else before your own.

When we discover what love truly is we become closer to Christ.

• Through our marriage we show the love of Christ for others.
• Married life witnesses the total love of God.
• The goal of marriage is eternal salvation for our spouse.

We do not live perfect lives or in a perfect world

•  Our marriage will not always be perfect.
• The Book of Job provides a sobering reminder .
• We cannot escape the sorrows and tribulations of this life. 

We can learn from Job that even in our sufferings God is still present,

• The God of communion remains with us. 
• Job was long-suffering, but Job was not silent. 
• He cried out to God in prayer.
• Job turned to others for support and comfort. 
• We learn from Job to reach out to God never giving up hope.

The lesson of  Job is to trust God even when we don't understand.

• The misery of Job is the background for our life.
• Through Job we can see the healing work of Christ,
• Christ comes to save us in our miseries.
• Jesus wants his message to be our good news.
• To heal us spiritually, 
• To give us strength to face the hardships of our lives 
• To make our marriages successful.