Kyle Koski & Megan Sloe

v Today is the Day! The day from which life will never be the same!

Ø Would this day come?

§ Worldwide pandemic – 18 months of confusion

§ Eight different clergy members’ sickness, death and calendars (me?)

Ø Today has finally arrived. Praise God!

§ Many other couples, pragmatic couples would have short-changed

§ JOP or elope to get on with their life get to the party

§ Your Catholic faith, Catholic heritage of your families would not permit

§ So here we are today!

v Readings express the exhilaration and significance of what happens here today

Ø Song of Solomon Groom calls his bride to come out to him

§ He beseeches her with the most endearing of terms

§ It is Springtime – the time when new life comes forth

§ He calls her to join him in the new life that they are about to form together

Ø Kyle, you have been calling on Megan since high school

§ Athlete wooing the beautiful cheerleader

§ Megan you have responded with equal affection through the years

§ Today you pledge yourselves to a unity unlike anything of the past

Ø You can together proclaim, “My beloved is mine and I am his”

§ A reciprocal, complete, self-donation of one to the other

§ In Scriptural language we call this a covenant

Ø The Sacrament of Marriage is nothing less than, nothing else but this

§ You could have contracted marriage at city hall BUT

§ You chose correctly to enter into the covenant here before the altar and in the midst of the Church

v At the center of the making and binding of a covenant is a sacrifice

Ø Romans: “I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship”

§ GN: You are already practiced in this careers, long-distance

§ BN: It won’t get any easier

Ø The call to self-denial & sacrifice is just beginning

§ Soon you will take a vow love & honor

§ Sacrifice will be needed to keep them Twists & Kids

Ø On this day It is right and just that you will make that pledge of sacrifice before the altar a which the sacrifice of Christ’s Paschal Mystery is offered.

v This day is a Joy-filled Day!

Ø More than just “finally” getting this done!

Ø More than the joy of celebrating the beginning of a new life together

Ø Jesus’ joy that He promised in the Gospel

v “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete This is my commandment: love one another as I love you”

Ø How you receive this joy? Love as Jesus loves!

§ Kyle, love Megan like Jesus loved the Church

§ Megan, love Kyle like Jesus loved the Church

§ Jesus’ sacrificial love made us fit for eternal life

§ Your new vocation is to love your spouse in a way to prepare them for heaven. Love your spouse into becoming a saint

Ø Not difficult Not probable Much worse than that

§ IMPOSSIBLE on you own

§ Only through the grace of the Sacrament can “Jesus’ joy be in you and your joy be complete”

Ø Today is the day If you are ready to enter into this covenant, then now is the time to come forward at profess your vows.