by Bishop Thomas Gumbleton
Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace
We gather together today with great joy because we have something very, very special to celebrate: the 50 years of married life that Richard and Michelle celebrate today, and all of us together with them. Perhaps we should ask ourselves what is the very special reason why their 50 years of married life is a cause for such great celebration, as it is. Something that happened to me a short time ago perhaps sets the stage for why we celebrate with such great joy.
I was returning on a trip on an airplane, and as I was coming back to Detroit, part of the time I spent reading my Scriptures. When we landed and got up, the gentleman standing next to me, who had been seated next to me, said, “Well, Father, what’s the good word?”, and I thought, “Well, how do you summarize what’s in the Scriptures?” Whatever you’re reading, the good word always is God loves us.
That’s the good word, the blessed word — God loves us — and we need more and more, again and again, to make ourselves conscious of that: “God loves me. God loves me.” After we reflect on it even briefly, we begin to realize, “I wouldn’t even be here unless God loved me.” God has loved us into being. That’s why we exist, because God loves us….