GOSPEL OF THE DAY

From the Gospel according to Matthew 8:18-22

When Jesus saw a crowd around him,
he gave orders to cross to the other shore.
A scribe approached and said to him,
“Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
Jesus answered him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”
Another of his disciples said to him,
“Lord, let me go first and bury my father.”
But Jesus answered him, “Follow me,
and let the dead bury their dead.”

The word of the Lord

Lord, we want to follow You

So often the past holds us back—it keeps us from being close to the Lord because we cling to what we did, to how poorly we lived out our marriage for so many years, to the fear of falling again. We look at ourselves, our own strength, our own ideas and plans. We lick our wounds. And we lose hope.

Today the Lord tells us to leave behind our “dead”: our bad experiences, our sins, our lack of love and tenderness—and to look at Him. To begin again, with renewed desire to live out our marriage as the Father intended. Now it’s different, because we are walking hand in hand with Him—His hand wounded by love—and filled with the joy of having found Him. Yes, Lord, we want to follow You and not remain behind burying our dead.

What great joy it is to walk this path with You. Blessed are You, Lord. You are our Love.

Applied to married life:

Sara: Husband, I see you’re sad.

John: Yes. Sometimes I remember the years we lost in destroying our marriage, how much we made each other suffer, and I feel sorrow.

Sara: It’s true, we went through very hard years. But now, with this new way we see one another, with this joyful hope to rebuild our marriage, and with Jesus present in our lives, the truth is that each day should be filled only with praise and thanksgiving to the Lord.

John: Thank you, Sara. You help me so much. You know I have a bit of a melancholic temperament, and I feel like the devil pokes right there to make me lose hope and joy.

(And J and Sara looked back to the Lord, following Him along the way, singing and praising Him—delighted by His call to live marital charity.)

Mother,

Help us to look at Jesus—to be filled with joy each day for the beautiful path He has opened for us to live our marriage as the Father intended. Praised be He for showing it to us.