Word to the Wise
Thursday, June 7, 2007 - Ninth Thursday in Ordinary Time
[Tobit 6:10-11;7:1BCDE, 9-17; 8:4-9A and Mark 12:28-34]When the girl's parents left the bedroom and closed the door behind them, Tobiah rose from bed and said to his wife, "My love, get up. Let us pray and beg our Lord to have mercy on us and to grant us deliverance." She got up, and they started to pray and beg that deliverance might be theirs........
I wonder how many married couples begin their honeymoon like this! I wonder how many married couples pray together at any time, period! The strength that a shared faith can bring to a marriage (or even to a good friendship) is really amazing. The sad thing is that faith has become like a private commodity and almost like one's preferences in toothpaste or food! Some might be willing to concede that love is a shared reality but faith? And even if both belong to the same faith, can an expression of this faith in prayer be done together? It doesn't seem too common anymore. Many of my generation will remember the family rosary and the sticker on the car that said, "The family that prays together, stays together." Last week I had the singular experience of guiding a retreat for two young married couples whose weddings I celebrated in 2005 and 2006 respectively. The "intentional" quality of their faith and marriages is a continual inspiration to me. Among the questions we addressed was that of maintaining an intentional and consistent family prayer life. The nature of American social and economic life now makes that goal very difficult. Surveys show that families don't sit down to eat together, let alone pray together. In Catholic families, they may not attend Mass together very often! My own prayer for these couples is that they will find the will and determination to intentionally pray together and make that a mutual priority for as long as they live! I think the prayer offered by Tobiah and Sarah is really beautiful and I recommend it to any married couple: "Blessed are you, O God of our fathers,praised be your name forever and ever. Let the heavens and all your creation praise you forever. You made Adam and you gave him his wife Eve to be his help and support; and from these two the human race descended. You said 'It is not good for the man to be alone; let us make him a partner like himself.' Now, Lord, ou know that I take this wife of mine not because of lust, but for a noble purpose. Call down your mercy on me and on her, and allow us to live together to a happy old age. AMEN"
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