21^st Sunday of Ordinary Time 

Wives submit to your husbands - often seems to be the one takeaway that many get ruffled about.  
  
You don't have to be married to know that relationships are unique and diverse. Look to your parents and you can see that it is far from a bed of roses, or rather a bed of roses, just not forgetting its thorns.  
  
When we submit to our husbands, we submit to them in their leading us to Christ himself. Our husbands in turn love us in the same way that Christ loves His Church, by dying for her to make her holy.  
  
However, we often fall short in this. In our relationships, there may be distractions and temptations that we make into our idols and "gods", that lead us astray. But like Joshua in the first reading, we need to hold strong and know to prioritise Christ ahead of everything else.   
  
St Paul teaches us of the same sacrificial love we are to emulate in the Gospel. A sacrificial love that we need to emulate in our own marriages. 
 
“Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day.” (John 6:54)  
  
As we receive Him in the Eucharist, we enter into communion with Him as one Church. In the same way so should our marriages emulate the love He has for the Church.  
  
So how do we do this in our own lives? Let us choose to turn to Christ as our true source of nourishment and strength. In every aspect of our lives, may we remain rooted in Him, allowing His love and truth to guide us.   
  
As Joshua so aptly puts it, "As for me and my House, we will serve the Lord."