Holy Family

Holy Family

Monday, May 7, 2012

Feast of Saint Augustine Roscelli


Good morning. Obedience has been and remains to be at the core of our relationship with God. In today’s Gospel Jesus assures us that He will be there for those who are obedient to His Father’s commandments. He notes that obedience means to love. 

 Obedience is a topic most people tend to avoid these days. We’ve been reading about it of late where it concerns disobedience and the relationship between certain religious communities and Church authority. Augustine Roscelli, a Saint whose life we commemorate today, demonstrates in his life an example of how priests, religious, and all of us should give of ourselves in obedience, humility, and sacrifice, seeking only the will of Him who calls us to our life’s vocation. 

Obedience seems to be most problematic where it involves marriage. Marriage in today’s culture, probably a result of the feminist influence, really struggles with this idea of obedience. How often have we witnessed people squirming about, flinching, and seen our priest perform a disappearance act in response to the challenging words of Ephesians 5. Nobody is standing in line when it comes to obedience these days; we are without a doubt a very stubborn and independent lot of people. 

Yet, Jesus makes it quite clear in today’s Gospel reading and He demonstrates by His own life that we are to be obedient and that it was obedience that brought us salvation and that obedience is the way of love. As married couples we are called to obedience, but our culture struggles with such a concept, and as a result we struggle immensely with a high number of marriages ending in divorce. As a culture we still value marriage as an important life goal, yet seemingly what we want and what we are willing to live-out aren’t necessarily one and the same. It is clear from vital records concerning marriage and divorce that we are falling short of our own ideals. Not only that, but we are failing to live out God's plan for us concerning marriage which He’s had from the beginning. 

This whole problem of obedience seems to be over our whole attitude surrounding this idea of obedience. We view obedience as being demeaning rather than it actually freeing us. If the truth is to be known there is deep peace and joy to be found in living lives in accordance with God’s plan. Obedience is the way we express our love for God, and for each other. Obedience between married couples provides for a sense of oneness as it was designed to be from the beginning, it is like a symphony. If we are being obedient to each other, wife with her husband, and husband with his wife, when obedience is founded in love and our decisions are in union with God’s will there will be great joy, mutual respect, and harmony. Obedience is the conductor and love is the music. Make a great day! 

Today we recall the good life, gifts, and work of Saint Augustine Roscelli.

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