In today's first reading, Ephesians 5: 21-33, St. Paul talks about marriage and the need for love and respect for each other. In Genesis, the message is that a man is to leave his mother and father and become one with his spouse. Both are to grow in mutual love for one another, become united in mind and heart toward a common goal: that their children grow in their relationship with the Lord, come to know the Lord and embrace their faith and call to become spiritually mature individuals. That maturity needs to be modeled by parents. Spiritual maturity, a call to self-sacrificial love, is the same for persons in religious life and/or priesthood. We are here to become one with others in our goal to be one with the Lord Jesus and His will for us. God wills that we grow to greater unity with God and with one another, that we are fruitful and multiply goodness--the goodness of bearing children in our image and likeness and who grow in their image and likeness of God! How do we do that? by personally living humbly in our relating to each other, in being reverent of one another, in forgiving one another, and in being compassionate and understanding of one another!
In today's responsorial psalm, Psalm 128, those are declared "blessed" who fear the Lord, that is, reverence the Lord. Reverencing the Lord begins with reverencing ourselves and one another. Those who "fear the Lord, who walk in his ways,...shall eat the fruit of [their] handiwork; [they] shall be blessed...and favored."
May you and I grow in reverence!
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