FROM THE PASTOR'S DESK ……

October 5, 2003

Dear Parishioners,

Last Saturday, while standing in the check-out line at Ralph's Supermarket, a young man and woman changed check-out lines and cut in front of me.  The young girl admonished the teenage boy that they shouldn't cut in line.  As she took a better look at me, she recognized that I was a priest.  We exchanged greetings.  Then she gushingly told me that she and the young lad were boyfriend and girlfriend and that they loved each other very much.  When I asked how long they had been going together, she informed me that they had known each other for an entire two months!  I told her that I was happy for them and quoted the title of an old popular song: "Love Makes The World Go 'Round."

Although the couple was "cute", I knew they were experiencing what is commonly called "puppy love" --- infatuation.  This kind of relationship, of course, is far different from a relationship that is authentic and mature.  Authentic adult relationships imply commitment that is grounded in God's plan.  That's why Jesus said in today's Gospel:  "Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate."  (Mark 10: 14-15)  When Jesus speaks about marriage, he refers His audience back to God the Father's original plan outlined in the first book of the Bible "GENESIS."  (See Genesis 2: 18-24)

True commitment also at times requires personal sacrifice.  In our second reading for this 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time, the author of the letter to the Hebrews tells us that God the Father made Jesus, our leader to salvation, perfect through suffering.  Thus He can truly relate to us as a "brother."

Finally, mature and authentic relationships exist for the benefit of others.  In marriage, these "others" are often children.  Jesus highlights children in today's Gospel by giving them a special blessing.  On this "RESPECT LIFE SUNDAY", let's take to heart our call to be faithful to our commitments whether as married people, single lay men and women, single parents, clergy, vowed religious men and women, or baptized members of the Body of Christ to advance the dignity of human life among all segments of our society and put an end to the "culture of death" that permeates so much of our life in today's world.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Fr. Raymond J. Tintle, OFM
Pastor