Feast of the Seven Founders of the Servants of Mary

Good morning. As a marriage and family therapist I deal daily with human suffering; hardly a day goes by that I don’t encounter in some way the anguish felt by a couple who struggle with rediscovering the sense of oneness they once had. They awaken one morning to a journey of self-inquiry of “What am I getting out of this?” They find themselves going from a relationship in which they were about giving of themselves to wanting for their self. It is no longer a love of self-giving but self-getting love. That sense of oneness only comes from there being a commitment to giving of self to the other. This is extremely difficult in a world where we are constantly bombarded with suggestions that life is all about me. Yet, in today’s Gospel reading from Mark we are clearly told by Jesus that the journey to the Kingdom requires that we carry a cross with us. Likewise, our first reading today from James notes that our faith must be actively lived out and so we must awaken each day to actively living out the covenantal exchange of our wedding day. Marriage is not always a reciprocal arrangement; we don’t always get back what we put into it. Make no mistake about it; the best of marriages do not escape the Cross of Christ! Sometimes, we need to step aside from asking “What am I getting out of this?” and, ask instead “What is my spouse getting out of this?” Blessed Pope John Paul II in his Letter to Families reminds us of this when he tells us that “When a man and a woman in marriage mutually give and receive each other in the unity of “one flesh,” the logic of the sincere gift of self becomes a part of their life.” We need to awaken each day to the question: “What can I do for my marriage today?” Make a great day!

Today we recall the good lives, gifts, and works of Saints Bonfilius, Alexis, Amadeus, Hugh, Sostenes, Manettus and Buonagiunta—Founders of the Order of Servites.