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The Roman Catholic Monastery of the Holy Cross was founded in 1989 and became a Benedictine house of the Subiaco Congregation in 2000. We follow a traditional contemplative life, chanting Psalms seven times a day and singing Gregorian chant at the Eucharist. We do this in a distinctive way by living our monastic life on the South Side of Chicago. Prior Peter, the author of this blog, was appointed Prior in August of 2004.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Homily for the Wedding of Mary Bellmar and Peter Olson - Dom Peter

There is a good deal of discussion today about the nature of marriage. There are many who are skeptical about entering into marriage because of the difficulties involved in staying faithful to promises in a postmodern world. Yet what we come together to witness to and to celebrate today is something greater than the promises that Peter and Mary are about to exchange. We will come to that in a moment; I don’t want to leave you with the impression that these promises are insignificant even from a natural human standpoint.

We live in an era whose default assumptions are materialistic, where we have tried to find a cause for every effect, and find these causes in nature, in the physical make-up of the universe and by extension in the human person. By such an analysis, the drive to wed is reduced to biological impulses and the decision to stay wed is often reduced to mere expediency: in a cost analysis, it is more effective for individuals to form communities to satisfy mutual needs.

What we experience in life, in making promises and struggling to keep them, is something with far more dignity than simple survival. By entering into covenants with one another, we take a disorganized universe and we give it predictability. No matter what happens to you from this day forward, Peter, Mary will be there to share it with you. And Mary, you will not have to look around for someone with whom you can share joy or sorrow: you have the certainty of knowing that God has given Peter to you for this.

And there I have slipped and brought God in already. Certainly this is the natural dignity of marriage: it is the privileged place where new life enters the world, where community is first formed by the irrevocable bond of matrimony.

And yet, what we claim takes place here today surpasses even this great dignity of marriage. For our Biblical tradition claims that married love is the privileged image of the love of God for the human race and more specifically the image of the love of Jesus Christ for His Church. In other words, you are each called upon to imitate the fidelity of God Himself, Peter by laying down his life for Mary and Mary by a sacrificial gift of self to Peter and both of you toward your children. By your fidelity, you will make the Good News of the gospel, a gospel of forgiveness, love, reconciliation and restoration more credible.

Such a goal would surely be impossible were it not for the fact that we believe that God is with us here and now, pledging to you His help in times of struggle. We should also note that St. Paul exhorts us to rejoice especially in hope. This echoes our Lord’s teaching that we should rejoice precisely when we suffer trials for our faith. These trials are the times when your love will be tested, purified and strengthened. To allow this work to go on, you will need faith, hope and love. Faith that God is with you, hope that God intends to see you through and love of God and each other.

From this it is clear that you must be a husband and wife of prayer, as we see modeled for us in the story of Tobias and Sarah. In order to give yourselves completely to one another, you have the responsibility to be wholly who you are, whom intends you to be. And we say with the Council of Vatican II, that Jesus Christ reveals you to yourselves. Stay with Him as you stay with each other and He will strengthen your love. While this is a time of general uncertainty with regard to marriage in our culture, but it is also a time of unprecedented resources and creative thought in the Church. Meditate frequently on the high calling you have received in this sacrament, and make friends of the Church’s great teachers in this regard, especially our late Holy Father Pope John Paul and our present Pope Benedict.

For those of us here witnessing, it is incumbent upon us to support Mary and Peter not only today by our presence, but by our continued encouragement and our own efforts to live lives of fidelity and holiness. This is a good time for each of us to renew our promises, whether they be in baptism, in marriage, in religious vows or in confirmation, either Christian or Jewish. In this spirit, we can be especially thankful for the examples of married fidelity we see in both sets of parents, and we remember especially the example of Charles Bellmar who, though not able to be with us in the body, surely is with us in spirit, both in his example as husband and father, as well as in the mystical communion we share with all the baptized whenever we gather to celebrate the sacraments of the Church.

I hope that you will all permit me, under the circumstances, to end with some musical remarks. I met Peter nearly seventeen years ago now, hard to imagine, but it was in the Motet Choir at the University of Chicago. Later, we would tour the country together in a barbershop quartet and found the first-ever avant garde barbershop ensemble along with Ben Sussman-Collins, today's Best Man. About that time, I met Mary at our parish, St. Thomas the Apostle in Hyde Park, also in choir.

Were I aiming to found a choir today, I would think of founding my bass section and my soprano section on the two of you. Not only are you excellent musicians, but you are team players. When we’ve sung together over the years, I know that you listen, that you are conscientious about the right notes and the right rhythms and about watching the conductor. Don’t ever let those skills flag! Be listeners first and foremost: to each other and to Christ. The beauty of a good marriage well-lived is not unlike the beauty of a motet well-performed; indeed, it is certainly greater. Both of them open up those around us to a greater love and zeal for life. Beautiful music stirs the heart and an open home full of life, love and hospitality is also a convincing sign that there is more to life than biological laws. May God abundantly bless you and may your lives be a song of praise in God’s service.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Congratulations, Peter and Mary, you are in our thoughs, welcome to Oak Park!

7:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

If you want to see some pictures of the wedding, look .



--Peter and Mary

9:57 PM  

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