21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

“For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the Church”. According to St Paul – and all the Church ever since – when someone leaves his parents and joins his/ her spouse, he/she becomes another person – a collective person, a joint person, a unity with the one he/ she loves. Love binds, generates and renovates all things. And this is a great mystery, and Paul – and all the Church – applies it to Christ and the Church as well.

That is to say, what happens between husband and wife in their individual, private lives reflects what happens between Christ and his Church – between Christ and each one of us. Christ, too, has left his Father (who art in heaven) and his mother (the Blessed Virgin Mary) and joined each one of our lives in order to found the Church.

So, without rupture, without leaving something meaningful behind, without taking a new and risky step in our lives we cannot experience the newness of life which God has meant for us. Is it easy? No. Is it straightforward? Nope. Is it painless? Absolutely not. That is why Jesus’ disciples say in today’s Gospel: “This saying is hard: who can accept it?” Jesus had just multiplied the loaves of bread (a sign of the Eucharistic alliance that he was going to seal with his blood in his Passion) and he had just explained what it all meant: Jesus said quite plainly that the meaning of the multiplication of loaves was not to provide free meals to everybody. His bread was his God’s will, and his vocation was to unite the Church – each one of us – in this new alliance, bringing each one of us inside his mystery in order to make us share his mission, his life and his glory. Jesus wants to marry us, to get united to us – and not simply to solve our physical problems. 

But why? If Jesus is God, he could well do that, too. Yes, he could. But salvation is not magic. Salvation is a loving process that engages our responsibility, our will and all our human capacities. Is it a blessing? Yes, it is. Is it positive? Yes, it is? Is it a source of joy in our lives? Yes, it is. But is it easy? Again, not at all. Just as a marriage is not complete and perfect right after the ending of the marriage ceremony, but needs to be incarnated, day after day, in humble and perseverant love in order to grow and bear fruit, the same happens with our salvation and with our relationship with Christ and his Church. Even if the sacraments work on us ex opera operato – that is to say, its efficacy does not depend on our human work, but solely on God’s grace – our work is essential if we want to grow more and bear more fruit. If we do not cooperate with God’s amazing grace, we will certainly lose a considerable portion of the graces that God wants to grant us. So, we must do our part if we want our marriage and our family to grow, and we must do our part if we want our relationship with Christ to grow. Is it demanding? Yes, it is. But the meaning of life, the meaning of a marriage and the meaning of our relationship with God can never be discovered without such loving perseverance, despite any challenges and sufferings it may bring upon us. We should here say as we heard in the first reading. When asked if they wanted to leave the Lord, when faced with the Lord’s demands, the people said: “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD for the service of other gods. For it was the LORD, our God, who protected us along our entire journey. Therefore, we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God”.

“For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother”: to be one with his God. Our human calling is to mirror Jesus’ calling. Our life should imitate his. Because our destiny is to live through him, with him and in him. May this Eucharist seal our marriage with Christ and be a sign of salvation for all our Church.