In my early ministry, I was introduced to a couple with a love story that stemmed more than 65 years of marriage. They were Don Rosendo and Doña Chavelita, who had migrated from Mexico in the 1930s. They never had any children, but they were “padrinos” (godparents) for many occasions. They met when Chavelita was 9 years old and Rosendo was 12. He waited until he was 15 to ask for her hand in marriage.

You always saw Chavelita dragging Don Rosendo to daily Mass, etc. They were inseparable. They were placed in a nursing facility together. One early morning in the spring 1995, I received a phone call that Doña Chavelita was dying. I entered the room and observed at her bed side holding her hand was Don Rosendo. He spent that early morning telling her how much she meant to him, recalling their 65 years together, and after every memory thanking her for each treasured moment. At 5:37 a.m. with one last breath Chavelita slipped into death and Don Rosendo stood up and kissed her on the lips. At 6:17 a.m., I discovered Don Rosendo had also died.

At their funeral Mass, I shared how Doña Chavelita was always dragging Don Rosendo to all the activities; she even guided Don Rosendo into the bliss of their new life together in heaven.

Many people have wondered why Jesus gave such a demanding teaching on marriage. “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery.” Forbidding divorce flies in the face of human experience. This is obvious today when divorce is so common, but it was true back in Jesus’ day.

Pope Benedict gives a key for interpreting Jesus’ teaching on marriage. In his encyclical, God is Love, he writes that monogamous marriage corresponds to the image of a monotheistic God. The Bible teaches that the one God loves us with the passion of a groom for his young bride. He calls us to love Him totally and exclusively. Marriage is meant to be a sign, a sacrament of the love between God and man.

In teaching the indissolubility of marriage, Jesus was aware of human weakness. He knew he was giving an extremely difficult teaching. The Catholic Church, in spite of the sinfulness of its members, has done its best to uphold that teaching.

I want to say a pastoral word about people whose marriages have broken apart. They have made every effort to save their marriage. This is hard, but admirable. At the same time, there are others who enter into a second union – and who do the best they can to worship God at Mass, even though they cannot come forward for Communion. One of the things that I have noticed in my years as a priest is that sometimes the people who have had the roughest experiences of marriage are the first ones to recognize the beauty of Jesus’ teaching. Ultimately, as Pope Benedict wrote, that teaching is about more than our human relationships. It is about the relationship of us to God and God to us.

The story of Don Rosendo and Doña Chavelita is more than a story of love and undying devotion. It is a story of two people becoming one through struggles, obstacles, illness, fears and life’s uncertainties. This homily is a tribute to Don Rosendo and Doña Chavelita, but it is also to all marriages that struggle to be one faith, one domestic church, and one exciting roller-coaster ride. Doña Chavelita’s advice always stated, “Primero Cristo en la fe y la vida: luego decenderán las gracias de Dios.” Translation: Keeping Christ first in our faith and our lives, then we will be showered with all the graces from God. They lived this faith together for 65 years and they always carried the Cross of Christ with a diligent faith. If we place Christ before all else in our lives, we too will be showered with the graces from God.