Feast of Saint Anthony Mary Gianelli

Good morning. What's mine is mine, and what's yours is mine, too. We may find ourselves chuckling at this lead-in for an advertisement for a divorce lawyer, but the sentiment of this line is far too accurate in assessing the tone of divorce. All the years together, all the experiences, the laughter and the tears shared together wind up being cast to the side, and in its place spite, greed, and revenge. Divorce is ugly! This self indulging posture is not at all what any couple start out thinking their relationship will be. Well, most couples don’t anyways. In this day of pre-nuptials, where the presumption is ‘this may not last’ and ‘I love her but I love my money more’ there is that exception. That being said, most couples begin their lives together with the intent that it is for keeps and what’s mine is hers and what’s hers is mine. Most of us believe marriage is a sacrament, and we believe we will be given the grace to survive whatever life throws our way, if we only think to ask for it. We do not enter marriage with pre-nuptial agreements and presumptions that it may likely fail, which by the way the Church prohibits pre-nuptial agreements. In today’s Gospel Jesus says to God the Father “Everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine.” Although He was referring to God with these words, these sentiments apply to marriage as well. We are all called to the oneness which Jesus refers to, and this is especially true in our marital relationship. This is what marriage is intended to be, it was intended to be this way from the beginning; Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew reminds us: "Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female' and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” Our marital relationship should reflect the oneness of Jesus with the Father. Our marriage should glorify God through the depth of our oneness, through the depth of our love for each other. How might our marriage glorify God today? Make a great day!

Today we recall the good life, gifts and works of Saint Anthony Mary Gianelli.