Homily for the 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

(Today's scriptures)

I came across a great little song on the internet,
a song appropriate for this weekend
(October 4 is St. Francis day and the Blessing of Animals)
and a song to help us understand the scriptures we just heard, too.

(See the video above; having no projection technology in my church, I sang the song)

I look up and I see God
I look down and see my dog
Simple spelling G-o-d
same word backwards d-o-g

They would stay with me all day,
I’m the one who walks away
But both of them just wait for me
and dance at my return with glee

Both love me no matter what
divine God and canine mutt
I take it hard each time I fail
but God forgives, dog wags his tail

God thought up and made the dog,
dog reflects a part of God
I’ve seen love from both sides now
It’s everywhere - Amen, bow-wow

I look up and I see God
I look down and see my dog
And in my human frailty
I can’t match their love for me.

- Song (and more info) by Wendy Francisco

You don’t have to have a dog or any pet to understand that simple song.
There is, in each of us, an innate desire for COMPANIONSHIP,
for the faithful, loving forgiving company of another:
someone who will not abandon us,
who will always be there for us.

As the Lord put it in the first reading today --
It’s not good for us to be alone…

Companionship…

And it’s God who planted this desire for companionship within us
and that’s because God desires companionship with us!
The Lord is not only God-with-us (Emmanuel),
but also God-who-WANTS-to-be-with-us.]

God desires us
- and we are made to desire God.

Every relationship we have, every love that is ours,
is a companionship given to lead us to God.

In the Christian faith, from the earliest times,
the companionship of marriage
has always been proposed as an image, a sacrament,
a living sign of how intimately God desires
to love us and to be with us.
The companionship, the union of two spouses
in a love that is full, faithful and forgiving
is meant to be a sign of how we are loved by God.
That’s why we often refer to Christ as the bridegroom
and the church as his bride.

But none of us is a stranger
to the pain, the disappointment, the loneliness
of relationships that break, separate, fade away.

And this is most tragic when it’s the bond of marriage that is dissolved.

No wonder, then, how jealously the faith guards the marriage bond -
even as Jesus does in the gospel today
where his words are strong and can sound harsh.

Jesus speaks here of the great gift that marriage is
and how carefully we must nurture it, care for and protect it
because in scripture, in law, in spirit
and in the flesh of two human beings
(A man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh)
marriage is intended as a sign of God’s abiding love
and desire for companionship with us.

Every loving relationship we have should be understood
as an instance of our God-given desire for companionship,
for the faithful, loving forgiving company of another:
someone who will not abandon us, will be there for us always,
as God is with us in Christ.

Here in this church today, at this Mass,
we are single, celibate, searching, engaged,
some in strong marriages, some in troubled marriages,
some living together without benefit of marriage,
some separated, divorced, annulled, remarried, widowed
- but all of us are here seeking the companionship faith offers us
in prayer with one another - and in Christ
who loves us always fully, faithfully and with forgiveness.

In fact, the word “companion” comes from two Latin words,
com and panis, meaning, “one you break bread with...”

In the companionship of breaking the bread
and sharing the cup of the Eucharist
may we find companionship with our God,
God who is with us in Christ, in the Word
and in one another.

-ConcordPastor