The impossible dream of marriage

Leaning on Jesus to enjoy a life-long marriage

Daniel 3: 19-20, 91-92, 95

King Nebuchadnezzar’s face became livid with utter rage against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace to be heated seven times more than usual and had some of the strongest men in his army bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and cast them into the white-hot furnace. Nebuchadnezzar rose in haste and asked his nobles, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” “Assuredly, O king,” they answered. “But,” he replied, “I see four men unfettered and unhurt, walking in the fire, and the fourth looks like a son of God.”  Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent his angel to deliver the servants who trusted in him; they disobeyed the royal command and yielded their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.”

            I believe that every man and woman who has ever gotten married attempts to do something superhuman.  Every husband is Superman and every wife is Wonder Woman.  Why?  Well, I am convinced that to stay married to one person for the whole of your life is humanly impossible.  Why do you think I became a priest??  We think priests do something really hard – and we do – but that’s relatively easy compared to the commitment of marriage.  When I talk to young engaged couples, I tell them: no matter how much love, kindness and patience you feel today, the day will come when you’ll feel you cannot go on, you don’t have an ounce of love left.  On that day, you’ll have to do something super human.  I urge them to lean on Jesus and he will give them the grace to do the impossible.  What is the secret to a life-long marriage?  The secret is Jesus.

            In the first reading today, three men do the impossible but only with God’s help.  Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego are throw into a fiery furnace but they walk on coals and even sing songs.  To me, the superhuman part is the singing: to sing while you suffer.  When King Nebuchodnezzer peered into the furnace he didn’t see 3 men, but 4, “ and the fourth looked like a son of God.”  That fourth was a prefiguration of Jesus.  The secret of being Superman and Wonder Woman is Jesus.

            One of my favorite Broadway musicals is “The Man of La Mancha.”  Don Quixote sings this stirring son explaining his impossible quest called “The Impossible Dream.”  Every couple married for more than 5 months has wanted to sing it, too about their own marriage.  Listen now:

To dream…the impossible dream…

To fight…the unbeatable foe…

To bear… the unbearable sorrow…

To run…where the brave dare not go…

To right…the unrightable wrong…

To love…pure and chaste from afar…

To try…when your arms are too weary…

To reach…the unreachable star…

The secret to be able to sing when you are suffering is Jesus.  Only with Jesus can you dare to dream the impossible dream called “marriage.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!