Feast of Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne

Good morning. There are lots of books written on the subject of marriage and there are lots and lots of programs and week-end retreats offering opportunities for the renewal of one’s marriage. It seems to be a far too readily accepted practice that most of us busily attend to our lives and allow the demands and stressors of our workdays and family life to drain us and cause us to neglect our marital relationship. We too often allow the hectic demands of our life to take away from finding quiet moments to just be there for each other, to renew and re-energize each other. We too often fail to attend to the task of renewing our marital relationship.

Today in the readings we are reminded of the “Festival of Lights”, the renewal of the Temple in Jerusalem, with Jesus in the Gospel driving out the merchants and money changers from the temple. These readings remind us that we must be diligent in renewing ourselves and our marriage and our relationship with God. This task of renewal requires realistically assessing ourselves and our relationship with our spouse. This is no easy task. To truly assess our self and our marital relationship requires honest and humble judgment. True marital love as it was intended from the beginning requires us to humbly and honestly judge our own frailties and to accept those of our partner. For love to prosper in a marriage we need to frequently take a mental inventory of what changes we personally need to make.

A successful marriage requires humility which is a genuine appreciation of our own significance as it relates to the significance of others and our relationship with God. As the Psalmist reminds us, “What is man that you are mindful of him?” Rediscovering ourselves, our spouse, and a loving relationship in marriage requires a great deal of humility, a virtue which our Saint for today, Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne, suggests “requires the greatest amount of effort.” Most of us are inclined to look to our partner to change; we tend to be reluctant to honestly and humbly look inward to ourselves. As the website initiated by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops ForYourMarriage suggests we should daily ask ourselves, “What have we done for our marriage today?” Despite all the pressures and demands we experience in our daily lives, we should not be too busy to take a moment each morning to ask ourselves “What can I do for our marriage today?” Make a great day!

Today we recall the good life, gifts, and works of Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne. “Humility is the virtue that requires the greatest amount of effort.” ~Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne