You have heard it say that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” You know that phrase. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Well, I think that is a bunch of hogwash. This may shock you and this is the reason why. Beauty goes beyond whether one person recognizes it or not. The idea that beauty is subjective to a person’s thought is a post-modern thought. This is not catholic. Sure a person can recognize beauty but they are not the determining factor as to whether it exists or not. 

Instead, beauty is a transcendental. It exists whether we see it or not. Naturally speaking, beauty is the harmonization and the right proportions of what something was created to be. When two people sing in harmony the sinusoidal waves that make up the frequency are consonant with each other and create something beautiful. When standing in this Church and seeing the beauty of things, we are able to see how the Church is in harmony with the entire whole. This harmony makes the Church beautiful.

Theologically, we can say that God is beauty itself. He is the perfection of harmonization. Therefore, when we see beauty we are seeing something of God. When you look into the eyes of your spouse and you see beauty you see something of God. 

I am talking about this because Jesus’ way is about the objective reality of what is Good, true, and beautiful. Beauty is something that is there. We just come to recognize it. Truth is something that is there. We come to understand it. Goodness is something that is there, we choose to live it. Jesus’ way is an objective reality that we choose to live and follow him or choose to go another path.

Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Do you believe in Jesus Christ? ok good - I’m glad you said yes. Do you follow the way of Jesus Christ? Are you sure? Well in reality, we do believe that Jesus is the Lord and Savior. Most of all try to follow him but we are also all sinners. We fall short of Jesus’ way. That is why we have the sacrament of reconciliation so that we can begin anew on the way of Jesus. 

It is important however that we say, I am going to live my life according to Jesus’ way and to not make any compromises. Sometimes, we make these compromises and we start walking down the wrong road. Remember the words of the first reading from the book of Joshua.  "If it does not please you to serve the LORD,

decide today whom you will serve, As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." Joshua is telling the Israelites that you can follow this gods of the Amorites or Canaanites but you have to choose which path to walk. Which path will you walk. He said but as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. 

I say to you - that as pastor of your Church, Immaculate Conception, I repeat the words of Joshua. We will choose to walk the path of goodness, beauty, and truth. Choose this say whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

We can see this echoed in Jesus’ statements in the Gospel. We see Jesus who had just proclaimed an essential truth of faith. He just said that you must eat His flesh and drink His Blood to have life within him. He had repeated over and over. I am the bread of life. My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Of course, Jesus is talking about the sacrifice of his death and His resurrection that will be represented at every Mass until the end of time. The people could not handle this objective truth. They said "This saying is hard; who can accept it?" You want us to eat your body and blood. This is too much for us to understand. Then we hear, “As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life

and no longer accompanied him.” What did Jesus say when he saw them leave him? Did he stop them and say, “I’m sorry. I was just speaking metaphorically. Or  my words are open to interpretation. You can think of it how you want. Or I didnt really mean what I said. Did he say all of these things? No. He allowed the people to walk away. He only turned to St. Peter and said are you going to leave too.

You see Jesus presented an absolute truth about our faith. It was not dependent upon his followers to decide whether it was important or not. To follow Jesus meant to follow and believe in this aspect of faith. It was an objective truth.

At this time we move to the great second reading. You know its one of my favorites especially during weddings. But many brides dont like it. They get caught up in the first words of the reading. “Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.” I know that when these words are read, many guys elbow their wives and chuckle. But, if their wives knew what they were about to hear they would get the last laugh.

Let’s unpack this verse. Because it is the way of goodness, beauty, and truth that Jesus asks married couples to follow. What is the foundation of the word subordinate or its corollary submissive? What do they at the heart mean? Well we know sub is the prefix meaning under. Ordinate means ordered to or missive comes from missio which means mission. So these two words subordinate and submissive means under the order of or under the mission of respectively. 

We need to read further to see what is the objective mission or order of the husband which the wife is to be under. The mission of the husband is this. “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her.” What did Jesus do for the CHurch? He died for the Church. He gave up his life for the church. So husbands your mission is to die for your wife. To sacrifice yourself for her and for your family constantly. And your wife is to receive this from you. Wives if you don’t want to be under this mission, call me up. We will talk. This is the objective reality of the sacrament of marriage that the Church wants from husbands and wives. “To love one another and be mutually subordinate to each other.”

It is a good time now to talk about other things about marriage which God intended to be part of the way of truth, goodness, and beauty. Our society which is a progressive and enlightened says there is another way. That a man and a man can come together and call themselves married. Or a woman and a woman can come together and call themselves married. No, this is not the objective reality of the sacrament of marriage. Jesus said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and unite with his wife. And the two will become one flesh.” The Church will always proclaim this absolute and objective truth. That marriage is only between a man and a woman. We may cry out that this is unfair or that this saying is hard. But the Church will not change because truth can not change.

Also, in our progressive society, some people will say that marriage is not for life but can end whenever we feel like it needs to end. It is only a contract between two people and is a social agreement. No, this is false! Marriage is a sacrament that only ends in the death of one of the spouses. Jesus said, “What God has rendered, man must not end.” The way of Jesus Christ is obvious. 

Finally, in our progressive society, some people will say that marriage is not even necessary. Why marry when you can just live with each other? They may do this only because of convenience sake. Or they may do this because they think it is financially better. Or they may do it for the sex. What ever the reason they do it, they live a lie. They are pretending to be married without the commitment or the covenant with God. What they are saying is that the Church’s way, the way of Jesus Christ, the way that is about objective beauty, truth, and goodness is not their way. They choose another path. They choose another god to follow, another idol.

If it does not please you to serve the LORD,

decide today whom you will serve, As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

When Jesus turned to Simon Peter and asked him if he was going to leave too, his answer was clear. “Master to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” Jesus’ way is one of beauty, goodness, and truth. It is the way of life. It may be hard or difficult to understand at times, but what God asks of us is to be faithful to this. Which way will you walk? The way of God or another. “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”