Hello and Welcome to Two Hearts True Healing! Today we are in the middle of winter and at least in my part of Wisconsin there is no snow. But we have the cold! Grab a cup of tea or coffee and snuggle up with a blanket and lets do some more scripture study. Our study today is on a married couple in the new testament. They are mentioned several times in Paul’s letters so we know they were really influential in the early Church. Here are the places we hear about them. Acts 18:2, 18, 26. Romans 16: 3-4, 1 Corinthians 16:19, 2 Timothy 4:19. Even in their obscurity, we can still learn a lot from them on how things are and how to act.
The first reference we hear of the couple is in Acts. Aquila and his wife Priscilla from Italy. They had to leave Rome because of persecution and Paul goes to them. He goes to them because they have the same trade and he stays with them. Tentmakers. So they had an inside insight on Christianity because Paul stayed with them and, likely, because of him staying with them, a lot of people were in and out to hear him, buy product, and share meals. They opened their home and their hearts to him and all that accompanied him. What can we learn by this? Persecution makes us open and fertile to hear the truth because we hunger. We find the truth in little ways in ordinary work. Priscilla lives her vocation as a hard worker, both in tentmaking and in opening her home. We too can grow in a lot of holiness when we stick to our post whether it is domestic engineering or in the workplace. She prays and works. She starts and maintains a rhythm with her husband and Paul and learns that life with Jesus is possible just by living the daily rhythms and being flexible to what God brings into your life in the day. We learn that they are very good hosts and they grow in a lot of affection for Paul and his mission. Something stirs in their hearts to know more and to spread what they are learning to others.
How do we know this? The next reference shows us more persecution in front of the Roman tribunal. Gallio pays no heed and another member of a household brought to faith, that is of the synagogue official, who is converted, is beaten severely by the Jews who wanted to be rid of Paul. They were able to be faithful as well, probably precisely from the example of Priscilla and Aquila. Paul has to leave for Syria and who goes with him? This loving couple. They are always mentioned as a team so we know that they were faithful to each other and to the faith. This speaks a lot about their fidelity to the new faith they received and to their hearts. They wanted to be missionaries and spread what they saw to be the truth. They can be heralds of the gospel just by living out their newly found charism of hospitality and work and prayer. We know they had an active place in this new society because they take in another man, Apollos, and instruct him. They see that his heart is in the right place, but is lacking from what they learned from Paul and they educate him in a more accurate way that Jesus is the Christ. The brethren can then recommend him because as a community they see Apollos can be a great help.
What can we learn by this? One couple becomes “a community.” They are not by themselves anymore. They are part of a larger body and use their influence to spread belief in Jesus. We know this because of the Romans reference in chapter 16 verse three through four. Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I but also all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks; greet also the church in their house. They were moved to accept the community into their home. They likely had Mass in their home. They had teaching. They shared meals. They had just living in community and supporting those God called there. Even in danger. They risked their necks for Paul to help him escape to another place and they themselves stay where Paul planted seeds to bring them to fruition by their daily life of work and prayer. That means they had a beautiful marriage that witnessed to others. What components? 1)Love. We see no competition between them but each working for the other in an unselfish way. 2)Work. They ply their trade so they can provide for themselves and others. 3)Prayer. Together they bring their relationship to God and their house becomes a house of prayer. These three components are very effective tools of evangelization. Fulton J Sheen has a quote that basically goes, you want to see holiness? Then look at a man and his wife. Married couples are the best models of faith when they live their life in the Trinity. Intimacy and friendship can grow in this fertile ground, not only in themselves but in their family and those brought into the community. Hospitality goes a long way.
The Corinthians reference shows the same thing. We learn that this church is very big and influential and knows other house churches because they greet other house churches through Paul. They keep touch with him and still provide for him even in distance. Mission. They support first their home mission and then they become heart missionaries who can help bodily missionaries by support and with the tools they have received that are at their disposal. They are true missionaries. The domestic church is built into a larger community when each one lives their charism and lives in community with other households. Marriage and family is at the heart of the Church where members learn how to relate and how to live out individual vocations and charisms in community. They can become a part of the larger community, the Church. We each have a mission to fulfill. The beautiful part is as married couples it is a teamwork. There are other vocations, celibates, monastics, and those in religious life. (Basically a single life of service, priesthood, and religious life.) Marriage is at the heart though and the other vocations cannot exist without this one. A family who lives in holiness is a refuge of God’s peace and love.
All men are called to the same end: God himself. There is a certain resemblance between the unity of the divine persons and the fraternity that men are to establish among themselves in truth and love.* Love of neighbor is inseparable from love for God. The human person needs to live in society. Society is not for him an extraneous addition but a requirement of his nature. Through the exchange with others, mutual service and dialogue with his brethren, man develops his potential; he thus responds to his vocation.* A society is a group of persons bound together organically by a principle of unity that goes beyond each one of them. As an assembly that is at once visible and spiritual, a society endures through time: it gathers up the past and prepares for the future. By means of society, each man is established as an “heir” and receives certain “talents” that enrich his identity and whose fruits he must develop.* He rightly owes loyalty to the communities of which he is part and respect to those in authority who have charge of the common good. Each community is defined by its purpose and consequently obeys specific rules; but “the human person … is and ought to be the principle, the subject and the end of all social institutions.”* Certain societies, such as the family and the state, correspond more directly to the nature of man; they are necessary to him. To promote the participation of the greatest number in the life of a society, the creation of voluntary associations and institutions must be encouraged “on both national and international levels, which relate to economic and social goals, to cultural and recreational activities, to sport, to various professions, and to political affairs.”* This “socialization” also expresses the natural tendency for human beings to associate with one another for the sake of attaining objectives that exceed individual capacities. It develops the qualities of the person, especially the sense of initiative and responsibility, and helps guarantee his rights.* – The Person and Society, CCC 1878-1882
In Christian usage, the word “church” designates the liturgical assembly,* but also the local community* or the whole universal community of believers.* These three meanings are inseparable. “The Church” is the People that God gathers in the whole world. She exists in local communities and is made real as a liturgical, above all a Eucharistic, assembly. She draws her life from the word and the Body of Christ and so herself becomes Christ’s Body. – I Believe in the Holy Catholic Church, CCC 752 (1140, 832, and 830 are the cross references that teach us more how the heart of the Church is to operate and how they are related.)
The Catechism has a whole section on Marriage which I recommend for you reading paragraph 1601-1617 as your homework to learn how this institution is raised to a sacrament and how it is at the heart of the Church. The entire Christian life bears the mark of the spousal love of Christ and the Church. Already Baptism, the entry into the People of God, is a nuptial mystery; it is so to speak the nuptial bath* which precedes the wedding feast, the Eucharist. Christian marriage in its turn becomes an efficacious sign, the sacrament of the covenant of Christ and the Church. Since it signifies and communicates grace, marriage between baptized persons is a true sacrament of the New Covenant.* – The Sacrament of Matrimony, CCC 1617 (cross reference of 796 please read as it shows the reflection of the Divine Bridegroom to his bride.)
Let’s have a little review of how to have a successful and fruitful marriage. 1)Love 2)Work 3)Prayer. These are MOST important. Right now I am reading a book, “Manual for Women” by Danielle Bean and just finished a whole section on how the woman sets the tone for the marriage by eight things that I brought out of these three ideals. I will list them.
- work
- giving up negativity
- being active together
- doing more than your share
- paying more compliments
- Soaking up the sacraments
- Praying together
- Speaking healing words
A family can be a healing place of many wounds, first in its own community, and then in those who associate and become melded into the primary unit. How is this institution successful? Pope Francis says, “How to live a good marriage? United to the Lord, who always renews our love and strengthens it to overcome every difficulty.” Fulton J Sheen refers to marriage as a chord of three, (Man to woman tied to God as the center). This center builds a marriage to be a beautiful place when lived out. Wounding occurs in every family at a certain level because of sin, but can be a good means of holiness when its members realize this and are wounded healers. The ideal is unity and this unity teaches its members how to love and how to heal and to live out their mission.
Thank you for spending this time with me! Some great changes are coming where my new book will be more readily available (it is available now on Lulu) a bible Study, My Father’s Heart and a Leader’s Guide. We also have some exclusive merchandise to help bring home the lesson of today’s episode, about how Christ consecrates the home. Check it out! I also recommend JP2’s rule for married life, which strives to bring together community and married holiness. I’ll list all the resources here. Know I am carrying you in my heart and prayers! You can always reach out to me at twoheartstruehealing@outlook.com or www.twoheartstruehealing.com . Until next time may God bring life and peace to your house and family and reinvigorate you. Love you guys! God’s Blessings! May you be blessed and draw close to your community.
Resources:
Manual for Woman by Danielle Bean Tan Publishers
John Paul the Second’s Rule for Married Life by the Woytija Institute
Chris Stefanik’s interview of how this rule will transform your marriage
Three to Get Married by Fulton J Sheen
Exclusive My eyes and my heart…How Christ consecrates the home
My Father’s Heart by Jacinta Wick
A leader’s guide to My Father’s Heart by Jacinta Wick