O. Henry was an American writer known for his short stories. One of these stories was about a married couple. They lived in a small apartment in a big American city. Its Christmas and it’s time to buy a present for the other. He knew what she would like, she had beautiful long hair, and she would love a silver comb to comb her hair.  He had a beautiful golden watch, a present from his grandfather and he would love a golden chain from which to hang his watch. Neither of them had the money to buy the present for the other.  In the late afternoon, they both go out and a couple of hours later, they came back, and he entered the apartment, and he gave his wife a beautiful silver comb; and she gave him a beautiful gold chain.  But he looked at her, she was different, she had cut her hair, at this moment he realised that she had cut her hair and sold it, so that she could buy what he wanted:  the golden chain.  She realised at the same time, that he had sold the golden watch to buy the silver comb for her.  Each one had sacrificed their own treausure to make the other one happy.   This iswhat marriage is all about. Giving and taking, winning, and losing, reward and sacrifice.  We all know that marriage is not a rose garden; with the sunshine there must be a little rain sometimes.  There will be days filled with joy and happiness and there will be days filled with grief and sadness. Our first reading today is of pivotal importance in the Bible because it lays out some of the fundamentals of the relationships between human beings, especially in marriage. Human beings are social beings; we need others. We have become a very self-centred society and that why Pope Francis speaks a lot about reaching out to the most vulnerable in our society. The Lord said: “it is not good that the man should be alone”. The focus of the bible is not on the individual but on the person as a social being. All human beings grow, develop, and discover their abilities and self-worth through their interaction with other individuals. This is contrary to what our society highlights today, we speak a lot about ‘selfies’, and the individual and we all know too well how difficult it is to get people to meet together. In our gospel today, Jesus reminds us of the beauty of marriage; and he tells us very clearly what God has joined together, nobody must separate. The relationship between a man and women is the deepest type of relationship. A survey was carried out among elderly people in America recently. When asked who was closest to them. Two out of three said that it was their pet dog or cat. This is very sad, and I think that if we are not careful, we are going down the same road. So, when we read this part of the gospel; it is an invitation for married couples to pray for themselves and to pray for each other; to pray for their families.  For those of us who are not married,  to pray for those who are;  and let us remember in a very special way, those  who are going through a difficult time in their marriage, those who are struggling; that they may find in Jesus the strength and serenity;  the wisdom that they need. The story is told of a couple that had stayed together for 50 years. How did you do it? We had an agreement when I would come home and I was angry, she would not talk to me and she would go to her room, and if she was angry, I would not talk to her and I would go to the garage. I must admit that I spent half my life in the garage. Relationships must be worked on.