One of my many diaconal duties at our parish is to meet with our engaged couples. I, along with my wife Stephanie, help prepare them as they journey toward marriage. One of the things that I always tell them is that marriage is not a contract, but a covenant. A covenant is an unbreakable bond, something that our couples need to understand as they prepare for a lifetime of commitment to one another in marriage.
In our readings today, we hear of God making a new covenant with his people. It’s a covenant so deep and important that it is placed and written on our hearts. It’s a covenant so intense that we are only made aware of it because God has revealed it to us. And much like our engaged couples discover, it’s an unbreakable bond. No matter what we do or what we say, God is with us and forgives us. God does this because He loves us so intensely that we actually become one with each other. We are bonded in our love, and we are never left alone.
Back in college, I helped form a group of Catholic musicians and singers that sang at our campus Masses and events. When I was researching a name for our group, I consulted the Bible. Today’s reading from Jeremiah really hit home (Jeremiah 31:31-34). After a group vote, we decided to call ourselves “New Covenant.” (I even wrote a song about it!)
Each of us is called to have a personal relationship with God, so we are able to not only recognize God in our daily lives but to also spread Christ to those we encounter. This is the new covenant, and it is with us every single day. We just need to look inside our hearts (it’s written right there) so we can experience and share it with others.
Let us rejoice in the fact that we are loved by our Creator, our heavenly Father, who hands over the keys to the kingdom to those who will accept them. We are bound together in an unbreakable relationship of love. He is our God; we are His people. As it is written in the verse of my song:
He lives in you, and you live in Him, and that covenant will never end.
