Divine Comedy Wedding Homily

Divine Comedy Wedding Homily May 18, 2013
One of the greatest poems ever written, ends revealing to us that God is “the love that moves the sun and all the other stars.”  God kindles the fire that rages within the sun, He is the hearth that gives life to all things and sustains them in being; He is the burning passion that gives meaning to life and makes all things worthwhile. 
“God is the love that moves the sun and all the other stars.”
This great poem is the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, an epic story where Dante descends into the pits of hell and into the flames of purgatory searching for one thing: for love.  Dante first encounters a glimpse of what he searches for in the beautiful Beatrice when he begins his journey in paradise.  Beatrice represents all that is good, beautiful and true.  This virtuous, pure woman is the one who guides Dante to an encounter with the living God in the heights of heaven, the God “whose love moves the sun and all the other stars.”
This very last line of the Divine Comedy invites us to reach up into the infinite, to reach up to the countless stars of the sky to find our Heavenly Father, yet the fact remains that Dante encounters God first through the presence of the beautiful Beatrice and that Beatrice is an instrument for Dante to find God.
Joseph, today you are joined to your Beatrice
Mary, today you are joined to your Dante.
Today your lives will be united and your primary calling in life will be to lead each other to God.  To manifest, to reveal, to make present the love God has for each one of you.
In your marriage you will practice the Lord’s greatest commandment just proclaimed, the second part first and then the first: In loving your neighbor as yourself, in loving your spouse as yourself, you will be loving the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.
On their wedding night Tobias and Sara blessed and praised God in thanksgiving.  The love they shared as husband and wife raised their minds and hearts to the ever-living God. 
As you are brought together in love, your minds and hearts are also lifted up to God.  You will grow in knowledge of the mystery of God as Saint Paul writes.  In the love that you share you will discover the treasures and wisdom and knowledge which only Christ can give.
Mary and Joseph, tonight you make the greatest and most profound commitment of your lives.  Tonight you choose to be Christ to each other as you exchange the very same vows millions before you have exchanged.  Tonight you enter more deeply into the mystery which is God present in our midst, manifesting himself in the love that you share.  May the Lord bless you in your life-long journey together and may Christ reveal himself in your love.

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