Mary, the Spouse of the Holy Spirit: May 31, 2009 Pentecost Sunday (B)

A lot of things can happen to a priest in just one week. This past weekend, I married a couple. I asked them at the altar the following questions, (and I want you to recall the day when you made your vows at the altar)

- "Have you come here freely and without reservation to give yourselves to each other in marriage?"
- "Will you love and honor each other as man and wife for the rest of your lives?"
- "Will you accept children lovingly from God, and bring them up according to the law of Christ and his Church?"
- "Do you take her for your lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health,until death do you part?"

Then during middle of the week, I presided over a funeral of a husband. I said to his surviving wife and children, "Trusting in God, we have prayed together for him and now we come to the last farewell. There is sadness in parting, but we take comfort in the hope that one day we shall see him again and enjoy his friendship. Although this congregation will disperse in sorrow, the mercy of God will gather us together in the joy of his kingdom." There was something powerful about seeing a vow of marriage lasting over 43 years for this couple. Although death has separated this couple, they are spouses for life beyond this life. There is another kind of vow that last beyond this life.

I have been ordained to priesthood exactly one year today (May 31), and yesterday (May 30) I concelebrated priesthood ordination mass for the transitional deacons Paul Gros and Mark Beard. As I watched them make their vows, I could not help but to recall my own vows which I made as I trembled before the bishop. I remember crying profusely as the bishop and my brother priests laid their hands on my head. The bishop asked me at my ordination the following:

- "Are you resolved to celebrate the mysteries of Christ faithfully and religiously as the Church has handed them down to us for the glory of God and the sanctification of God's people?" (I am)

- "Are you resolved to consecrate your life to God for the salvation of his people, and to unite yourself more closely to every day to Christ the High Priest, who offered himself for us to the Father as a perfect sacrifice?" (I am)

- "Do you promise respect and obedience to me and my successors?" (I do)

These promises are structured similarly to the wedding vows. Really, these are essentially vows to a spouse. When I ask Catholic school children, "To whom are the religious sisters married to?" And they all answer loudly, "Jesus!" Yet when I ask them, "To whom are priests married to?" They don't know. In Ephesians we read, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her..." (Eph 5:25-26) And in Revelation 21 we read, "I also saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." (Rev 21:2) The Lamb of God's bride is the Church. Priests who are the alter-Christus (another Christ) then are 'married' to his spouse, the Church.

There is one person mentioned in the New Testament who makes a very serious vow like that of a bride to be married. We read in Luke 1, "Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus...The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." The promise Blessed Mother is asked to make is not unlike the promise that a priest makes at his ordination, "Are you resolved to consecrate your life to God for the salvation of his people, and to unite yourself more closely to every day to Christ the High Priest, who offered himself for us to the Father as a perfect sacrifice?" And Blessed Mother answered, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." (Luke 1:38) It is as if she replied, "Father, whatever You want from my life, I say 'yes' to it. If it means suffering, I'll accept it. Just teach me how to follow You." (Patti Mansfield, Magnificat: A Mother's Reflection on Mary) She made her vow in complete trust of the Holy Spirit as her spouse, hence, the Church calls her the Spouse of the Holy Spirit. Her promise to God was "in good times and bad, for better, for worse, in sickness, and in health..." St. Augustine says this of Blessed Mother, "[She] was the only one who merited to be called the Mother and Spouse” of God. She became the Mother of God because she was the Spouse of the Holy Spirit. As a husband and wife become "one flesh" in marriage (Genesis 2:24) yet remain distinct persons, so Mary and the Spirit are two distinct persons who share a deep spiritual union. And as human spouses cooperate in giving life to their children, so, analogously, the Spirit and Mary "cooperate" in communicating spiritual life to us.

Many of us here know that keeping our marriage vows faithfully is no easy task. For the husbands, keeping the custody of our eyes and our affections from wandering away from our bride is not easy. Yet are we to give up when it’s hard? In our vows to our bride we did say, "in good times and in bad, for better, for worse, in sickness, or in health..."Marriage vow protects us from making rash decisions--giving up at a hint of difficulty. There is a great reason why we make our marriage vows before God. We remember that God was faithful to His vows to us even when we were not faithful to Him. When we fail our vows, the just thing to say to our spouse is, "I'm sorry. I failed you in my weakness. Forgive me," instead of "That's it. It's over. I'm walking out." This applies to married couples, ordained priests, religious sisters, and every baptized Christians. At the Pentecost we became the Church, the Bride of Christ. And we all have declared our vows to Him, rejecting Satan and sin, and believing in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And if we have failed in our vows to Christ, the Bridegroom, the just thing to say to Him is, "I'm sorry. Forgive me." For He, our Bridegroom does not ever say, "That's it. It's over. I'm walking out." He says, as one of our hymns says, "Return to God with all your heart, the source of grace and mercy; come seek the tender faithfulness of God."