Readings: Ezekiel 16:59-63; Matthew 19:3-12
In Robert Bolt’s play A Man for All Seasons,
which tells the story of St. Thomas More,
the character More, facing execution at the hands of the king,
says to his daughter,
“When a man takes an oath, Meg,
he is holding his own self in his own hands.
“When a man takes an oath, Meg,
he is holding his own self in his own hands.
Like water.
And, if he opens his fingers then—
he needn’t hope to find himself again.”
Promise-making and promise-keeping
are one of the chief ways
in which we give shape to our lives—
And, if he opens his fingers then—
he needn’t hope to find himself again.”
Promise-making and promise-keeping
are one of the chief ways
in which we give shape to our lives—
just as our hands give shape to water—
in which we form an identity,
in which we become the self who we are.
For Christians,
the self that is formed by promise-keeping
is a self that bears witness to the promise-keeping God.
In the prophet Ezekiel, God says that he will remain true
to his sinful and wayward people Israel:
“I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the LORD.”
God does not take the Israelites’ disobedience
as an excuse to go back on his promise,
to break his covenant with them;
God remains resolutely, fiercely true to his word,
and calls his people to be faithful in turn.
This is who God is: the God of steadfast love.
And this is who we are to be:
a people of steadfast love,
a promise-keeping people.
This is why Jesus is so stringent in his expectations
for the permanence of marriage.
This is not simply a bit of marital morality.
This is something that should speak to all of us,
married or not.
This is about the power of God’s grace;
the power we sense when we realize
that the hands in which we hold ourselves
enclosed like water
are themselves enclosed
in the steadfast, loving hands of God.
This is about letting God’s grace work in us
so that in keeping our vows in good times and in bad
our lives give witness
to the God of fiercely steadfast love.
Today we celebrate the feast of Maximillian Kolbe,
the Polish Franciscan priest who died
in the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.
After a prisoner escaped,
the commander of the camp
sentenced ten men to die by starvation
to deter future escape attempts.
Kolbe volunteered to take the place of one of the ten
whom he knew had a wife and child.
Having promised himself
in baptism and religious consecration
to be a follower of Jesus,
to walk with Christ
the path of cross and resurrection,
Kolbe stood at that moment
holding himself in his own hands like water.
And he chose, by God’s grace,
to be a person of fiercely steadfast love.
This is who we, by God’s grace, can be as well.
Let us ask today for the prayers
of Saints Thomas More and Maximillian Kolbe
that we too might be true to our vows
so that God might make us
witnesses in the world to the love of God.
in which we become the self who we are.
For Christians,
the self that is formed by promise-keeping
is a self that bears witness to the promise-keeping God.
In the prophet Ezekiel, God says that he will remain true
to his sinful and wayward people Israel:
“I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the LORD.”
God does not take the Israelites’ disobedience
as an excuse to go back on his promise,
to break his covenant with them;
God remains resolutely, fiercely true to his word,
and calls his people to be faithful in turn.
This is who God is: the God of steadfast love.
And this is who we are to be:
a people of steadfast love,
a promise-keeping people.
This is why Jesus is so stringent in his expectations
for the permanence of marriage.
This is not simply a bit of marital morality.
This is something that should speak to all of us,
married or not.
This is about the power of God’s grace;
the power we sense when we realize
that the hands in which we hold ourselves
enclosed like water
are themselves enclosed
in the steadfast, loving hands of God.
This is about letting God’s grace work in us
so that in keeping our vows in good times and in bad
our lives give witness
to the God of fiercely steadfast love.
Today we celebrate the feast of Maximillian Kolbe,
the Polish Franciscan priest who died
in the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.
After a prisoner escaped,
the commander of the camp
sentenced ten men to die by starvation
to deter future escape attempts.
Kolbe volunteered to take the place of one of the ten
whom he knew had a wife and child.
Having promised himself
in baptism and religious consecration
to be a follower of Jesus,
to walk with Christ
the path of cross and resurrection,
Kolbe stood at that moment
holding himself in his own hands like water.
And he chose, by God’s grace,
to be a person of fiercely steadfast love.
This is who we, by God’s grace, can be as well.
Let us ask today for the prayers
of Saints Thomas More and Maximillian Kolbe
that we too might be true to our vows
so that God might make us
witnesses in the world to the love of God.
