The Letter of St James admonishes the reader against swearing by anything but only to say and to mean 'yes' or 'no'. They emphasise perseverance through fidelity to what we commit ourselves to - namely, seeking a relationship with God.

The Gospel picks up the theme of fidelity and counsels the spouses to remain faithful to one another in their marriage commitment - it is patient perseverance in their essential commitment. This means that each spouse hears the other's voice, enacts that voice very seriously and lives its behaviour. This is the foundation of marriage. It is their ever-faithful self-donation on the part of each of the spouses to an irrevocably spoken "yes".

Just as the prophets of old are examples of endurance in the face of great hardships, the partners of marriages who are happy together after many years are also examples of such patient endurance. Couples who have been married for many years repeatedly say that they don't know how they could have stayed together without prayer, patience and love for one another. Marriage is also their mutual willingness to forgive one another.

Ordinary time is neither feast nor fast, but the long stretches of workday time. It is a spiritual marathon time, not a time of short sprints. An old "instruction" from the marriage rite says, "only love makes married life possible and perfect love makes it a joy."