Here is the text of the reflection I shared during the celebration of a wedding we were privileged to witness today.
One day in mid-December last year, I saw a note in the office. There were two names written on that piece of paper, along with a phone number and a short explanation: re a wedding for October 2015. It wasn’t long before Lianne and Brad had come to meet me, to begin asking questions and telling stories.
I discovered that they are both engineers, and that since Lianne had managed to find a job here in North Bay, they both decided to make their home here. Brad came with her, and somehow Lianne managed to convince the people with whom she works that they needed a Process Engineer – and the rest is history.
Shortly after we met to begin planning this wedding, Lianne had completed the parish registration form (I’m not sure whether that had anything to do with Brad’s obsession with forms and spreadsheets, or whether Lianne too has a latent fondness for forms of all sorts).
Having gotten to know you both a bit over the past couple of months, I’m absolutely delighted to be able to share this day with you. Your parents, grandparents, siblings and friends have all come to share this joyous occasion, and the parishioners here at Saint Peter’s also rejoice with you today.
Have you ever considered the fact that God is the ultimate process engineer? He not only designed every physical facet of the human being, he also added a mind, a fully self-sustaining respiratory and digestive system, surrounded it with just enough muscle tissue to protect the whole thing, and programmed it so that it could function without any interference for at least a few decades at a time … and God did even more.
He recognized that these beings he had created were sentient, that they are capable not only of interacting with him, but with one another. In fact, he even created us in his own image and likeness (Gn 1:27). Now just think about that for a moment: God created you – Brad – in his own image. Before you let that thought go to your head, consider that he also created Lianne in his own image. That means that every day, when you wake up, when you look into each other’s eyes, you are actually looking into the eyes of God!
God has given you this partner to share the rest of your life with you, to rejoice with you when you are happy and to support and console you when you are struggling. I want you to promise me something: every day, give thanks for the person who’s sitting next to you right at this moment; every day, remember that words spoken with love run a better chance of being heard than words spoken in haste; every day, try to find some small way to do something for someone else as an act of love.
If you do, then you will indeed be salt for the earth and light for the world (Mt 5:13-16). In today’s world, we often think of salt as the white stuff in the shaker on the table, but it’s a pretty powerful mineral. I’m not a chemical engineer, but I know that salt has the ability to change the flavour of foods, and to preserve and keep foods too. Without salt, food is still nutritious, but it doesn’t taste the same.
Brad, think for a moment about the person you were before you met Lianne. Lianne, can you remember a time before you knew Brad? Do you like the person you have become since you met the one who will become your wife (your husband) today? Jesus needs every one of us to be salt for the earth – to tell our colleagues at work and our friends about who Jesus is, and who we are because we have known him. If he’s allowed to share his life with us, our lives will be changed too, and we will absolutely LOVE the change. In fact, we will not be able to hide under a bushel basket. No, we will want to share the joy that is in our hearts with everyone we meet, to allow the light of Christ to shine before others. They in turn will see our good deeds and give glory to our Father in heaven (cf Mt 3:16).
Homily for the wedding of Bradley Hyndman and Lianne Facca
One day in mid-December last year, I saw a note in the office. There were two names written on that piece of paper, along with a phone number and a short explanation: re a wedding for October 2015. It wasn’t long before Lianne and Brad had come to meet me, to begin asking questions and telling stories.
I discovered that they are both engineers, and that since Lianne had managed to find a job here in North Bay, they both decided to make their home here. Brad came with her, and somehow Lianne managed to convince the people with whom she works that they needed a Process Engineer – and the rest is history.
Shortly after we met to begin planning this wedding, Lianne had completed the parish registration form (I’m not sure whether that had anything to do with Brad’s obsession with forms and spreadsheets, or whether Lianne too has a latent fondness for forms of all sorts).
Having gotten to know you both a bit over the past couple of months, I’m absolutely delighted to be able to share this day with you. Your parents, grandparents, siblings and friends have all come to share this joyous occasion, and the parishioners here at Saint Peter’s also rejoice with you today.
Have you ever considered the fact that God is the ultimate process engineer? He not only designed every physical facet of the human being, he also added a mind, a fully self-sustaining respiratory and digestive system, surrounded it with just enough muscle tissue to protect the whole thing, and programmed it so that it could function without any interference for at least a few decades at a time … and God did even more.
He recognized that these beings he had created were sentient, that they are capable not only of interacting with him, but with one another. In fact, he even created us in his own image and likeness (Gn 1:27). Now just think about that for a moment: God created you – Brad – in his own image. Before you let that thought go to your head, consider that he also created Lianne in his own image. That means that every day, when you wake up, when you look into each other’s eyes, you are actually looking into the eyes of God!
God has given you this partner to share the rest of your life with you, to rejoice with you when you are happy and to support and console you when you are struggling. I want you to promise me something: every day, give thanks for the person who’s sitting next to you right at this moment; every day, remember that words spoken with love run a better chance of being heard than words spoken in haste; every day, try to find some small way to do something for someone else as an act of love.
If you do, then you will indeed be salt for the earth and light for the world (Mt 5:13-16). In today’s world, we often think of salt as the white stuff in the shaker on the table, but it’s a pretty powerful mineral. I’m not a chemical engineer, but I know that salt has the ability to change the flavour of foods, and to preserve and keep foods too. Without salt, food is still nutritious, but it doesn’t taste the same.
Brad, think for a moment about the person you were before you met Lianne. Lianne, can you remember a time before you knew Brad? Do you like the person you have become since you met the one who will become your wife (your husband) today? Jesus needs every one of us to be salt for the earth – to tell our colleagues at work and our friends about who Jesus is, and who we are because we have known him. If he’s allowed to share his life with us, our lives will be changed too, and we will absolutely LOVE the change. In fact, we will not be able to hide under a bushel basket. No, we will want to share the joy that is in our hearts with everyone we meet, to allow the light of Christ to shine before others. They in turn will see our good deeds and give glory to our Father in heaven (cf Mt 3:16).
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