Dearest Goddaughter (LTR-51) - Love God Above All

Dearest Goddaughter,

God asks of us two things and these are the two Commandments that Jesus teaches us: to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul, and to love our neighbors.

When I first met Theresa, I was not a Catholic, but I saw in her how much she loved her faith. As we prepared for marriage and took the #Unitas marriage classes, the couples teaching the class challenged me not just to allow her to grow in her faith, by not being an impediment or obstacle, but also to grow in my own faith with her as a married couple. I had no doubt that I would support her by attending Mass with her on Sundays. However, God placed on my heart what it truly means for the two to become one flesh, to be united as a married couple. The rest, as they say, is history - my story woven into His story of redemption.

Today's first reading - of how "when Solomon was old his wives had turned his heart to strange gods, and his heart was not entirely with the LORD, his God. . ." - reminded me of my own story. While I am so blessed and happy that Theresa took a chance, followed her heart, and married a unbaptized, non-Catholic,, I would encourage all Catholics to take into consideration not only the faith of the person that they want to start a relationship with, especially if they love their Catholic faith, but also how devoted they are to the practice of their faith because disunity can be painful in a marriage.

I have witnessed this a lot while working with couples preparing for marriage. Certainly, the "heart loves what the heart loves;" however, if our hearts love God above all, then our days will be filled with peace and harmony - in our hearts, marriage, and family.

Love,

Bỏ Phúc

P.S. These are the readings for the day: 1 Kgs 11:4-13 and Mk 7:24-30 (below).

. . .

Jesus went to the district of Tyre.

He entered a house and wanted no one to know about it,

but he could not escape notice.

Soon a woman whose daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him.

She came and fell at his feet.

The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by birth,

and she begged him to drive the demon out of her daughter.

He said to her, “Let the children be fed first.

For it is not right to take the food of the children

and throw it to the dogs.”

She replied and said to him,

“Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s scraps.”

Then he said to her, “For saying this, you may go.

The demon has gone out of your daughter.”

When the woman went home, she found the child lying in bed

and the demon gone.