Like the Israelites in Shechem and the disciples in Capharnaum, we are called to make a choice, a choice for or against the God Who has already chosen us, for or against the God Who created us, loved us from the beginning, revealed Himself to us, saves us over and over again, sent His only Son to die for us, blessed us in innumerable ways and prepared a place for us in heaven.
In theory, the choice is simple: Who would choose against God? But in practice, such a choice is challenging and hard, because by its nature, it demands fidelity each day, in each decision, in all the various aspects of our lives.
No man morally is an atheist or an agnostic — we either choose to serve the true God to the extent He has revealed Himself to us, or we end up serving something else, either our own egos or the god of money or control (power) or sexuality. We’re always serving something, or someone, by our actions. Those who often tell Catholics, “Don’t try to force your values on me” are the very ones who want us and society at large to live by their values.
We have no choice but to choose — failure to choose is itself a choice, and a bad one. God has made every human being free so that we might use that freedom to become whom He created us to be. In short he made us free to love, to love God, and to love others and ourselves as God does. But in creating us free, God also gave us the capacity to sin, to choose against God, to choose against love. Freedom is a great gift, but it is also a task. Being free, we must choose, and we have the responsibility to choose well.
Past choices are not enough. Just as a husband can’t say to his wife, “I was faithful last year,” so a follower of God needs always to be faithful in the present, especially when temptations arise. In every choice, we need to express our fidelity. A groom today who says yes to one woman is in fact saying no to all three billion other eligible females on the planet. If he’s not in fact saying no to them, then he’s really not saying yes to God and to his wife. To choose God means to reject idolatry and put everything in our lives at God’s service.
For most Catholics one of the most important ways the Lord calls us to imitate His love and live in service is in the sacrament of marriage. Most husband and fathers I know, including my own father, would willingly take a bullet for their spouses or their children if it ever came to it. But sometimes those bullets come in the form of making the time to pray with your family, setting a good example, doing whatever is necessary to help make your wife and children holy. That’s the love to which Christ calls husbands. Wives are called to share this mission and to respond to the husband’s efforts in this regard just as the Church, the Bride of Christ, responds to Christ the Bridegroom. Because Christ is always faithful, human spouses are called to the same fidelity; and because the marriage between the divine Bridegroom and the Church produces abundant fruit in acts of love, so Christian couples are called to be fruitful, literally “to make love.”
If you ever go to the ancient basilicas of Rome, like St. Peter’s, you’ll see a huge baldachino or canopy over the main altar. The reason is because in the ancient world, there were canopies over beds — much as we still have today in some upscale hotels and honeymoon suites. By using the baldachino, the early Christians wanted to communicate clearly that the altar is the marriage bed where the marital union between Christ and the Church is consummated. When a marriage is consummated, the bride takes within herself the flesh and blood of the husband, they become one flesh, and that one-flesh union is capable of giving new life. So in the Eucharist, we, the bride of Christ, receive within us the flesh and blood of the divine Bridegroom, Jesus; we become one with Him and are called to bear fruit in acts of love with Him. For Christian married couples to be faithful and especially for them to grow in love as Christ calls them, they need to come as often as possible to the marriage bed of the altar, where they will receive within the Lord’s own strength and love and become strengthened to love each other as Christ loves the Church, as Christ loves them. We need His grace so that we may choose Him as completely as He has chosen us (Jn 15:16).
Father Roger J. Landry is a priest of the Diocese of Fall River, Massachusetts, ordained in 1999. After receiving a biology degree from Harvard College, Fr. Landry studied for the priesthood in Maryland, Toronto, and for several years in Rome. He speaks widely on the thought of Pope John Paul II and on apologetics, and is currently parochial administrator of St. Anthony of Padua in New Bedford, MA and Executive Editor of The Anchor, the weekly newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River. An archive of his homilies and articles can be found at catholicpreaching.com
This article is adapted from one of Father Landry’s recent homilies.
