1. They Become One

2. May Our Love Last 

Introduction 
1. They Become One
The first pages of the Bible tell us that God created man and woman in his own image. That means that God, who is love, wanted to unite them in the bond of love and make them live for the love of each other. That is how it was in the beginning. And that is how it should be still now. When Jesus came, he made the bond between husbands and wives even more sacred, assuring them of God’s grace. Are people faithful to their yes given in the presence of God and the Church? Let us ask the Lord today for faithfulness and deep, deep love between our married couples – and for all our friendships.

2. May Our Love Last
The ardent wish of husband and wife on their day of marriage is: may our love last! This is not only God’s wish for them but his very command. He wants their union in love to be like his own love for his people: faithful, strong, lasting, a covenant love. With all married couples, with all those bound together in friendship, with all our Christian communities we stand before the Lord today and we ask: May our love for one another be strong, reliable, faithful.

First Reading: Created for Love
Men and women are destined not for selfish loneliness but for building community in faithfulness and unifying love.

1 Reading Genesis 2:18-24
The LORD God said: “It is not good for the man to be alone.
I will make a suitable partner for him.”
So the LORD God formed out of the ground
various wild animals and various birds of the air,
and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them;
whatever the man called each of them would be its name.
The man gave names to all the cattle,
all the birds of the air, and all wild animals;
but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man.

So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man,
and while he was asleep,
he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.
The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib
that he had taken from the man.
When he brought her to the man, the man said:
“This one, at last, is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called ‘woman, ‘
for out of ‘her man’ this one has been taken.”
That is why a man leaves his father and mother
and clings to his wife,
and the two of them become one flesh.

Responsorial Psalm 128:1-2, 3, 4-5, 6
R. (cf. 5) May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.

Blessed are you who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;
blessed shall you be, and favored.
R. May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.

Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;
your children like olive plants
around your table.
R. May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.

Behold, thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
R. May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.

May you see your children’s children.
Peace be upon Israel!
R. May the Lord bless us all the days of our lives.

Second Reading: Love Is Self-sacrificing 
The source and model of all love is the self-sacrificing love of Christ for us.

2 Reading Hebrews 2:9-11
Brothers and sisters:
He “for a little while” was made “lower than the angels, ”
that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

For it was fitting that he,
for whom and through whom all things exist,
in bringing many children to glory,
should make the leader to their salvation perfect through suffering.
He who consecrates and those who are being consecrated
all have one origin.
Therefore, he is not ashamed to call them “brothers.”

Alleluia1 John 4:12 
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
If we love one another, God remains in us
and his love is brought to perfection in us.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel: Love Is Faithful
In God’s plan marriage is, beyond human legalisms, an unbreakable union of love and fidelity. The love of husband and wife will live on in their children.

Gospel Mark 10:2-16 
The Pharisees approached Jesus and asked,
“Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?”
They were testing him.
He said to them in reply, “What did Moses command you?”
They replied,
“Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce
and dismiss her.”
But Jesus told them,
“Because of the hardness of your hearts
he wrote you this commandment.
But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.
So they are no longer two but one flesh.
Therefore what God has joined together,
no human being must separate.”
In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about this.
He said to them,
“Whoever divorces his wife and marries another
commits adultery against her;
and if she divorces her husband and marries another,
she commits adultery.”

And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them,
but the disciples rebuked them.
When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them,
“Let the children come to me;
do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to
such as these.
Amen, I say to you,
whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child
will not enter it.”
Then he embraced them and blessed them,
placing his hands on them.

Commentary
“We lived in the shelter of one another,” wrote Peig Sayers; she was referring to life long ago on the Great Blasket, a barren island off the west coast of Ireland. The phrase stays in the mind: “the shelter of one another.” Could one regard marriage vows in that way: as a promise to live in the shelter of one another? Perhaps yes, if it means giving shelter as well as receiving it. And yes if it means giving and receiving shelter from what is harmful – for we must never promise to shelter one another from the truth. On the wind-whipped slopes of the Great Blasket, ‘shelter’ was a word with vivid meaning. What we have to shelter one another from now is usually more subtle and less identifiable than the cold winds off the Atlantic. From discouragement: when the struggle to rear a family seems very long and against the odds. From despair: when there is tragedy – bereavement or sickness or unemployment. From the limitation of one point of view. From addiction and compulsions of every kind: those parodies of love. From infidelity to one another: in a world that cares little or nothing for fidelity. From infidelity to God: in a world that has gone astray from the Center.

Blessing
Bow your heads and pray for God’s blessing.
God is the source and strength of all love.
May he bless our Christian families
with happiness and faithfulness. R/ Amen.
May he bless our Christian communities
with unity and peace
and make us one heart and soul. R/ Amen.
May he give to all of us
a love that brings out the best in each other. R/ Amen.
May God bless you all
and keep his love alive in you:
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. R/ Amen.

Let us go in the love of the Lord.
R/ Thanks be to God.