Ordinary Time - Week 27b
Matrimony
(From Conversation with God, Fernandez Carvajal)Jesus was teaching in Judaea on the banks of the Jordan to a great multitude. They were listening closely to his every word. Today's Gospel reports that Jesus was then approached by some Pharisees who wanted to test him. They asked Jesus to pass judgment on the Mosaic Law. Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife? Moses had permitted divorce because of the hardness of heart of the chosen people. The condition of woman was at that time ignominious. She could be put aside by her husband for virtually any reason. Moses required that the husband give the wife a bill of divorce so that she might be free to marry again. The Prophets spoke out against divorce when they came to the Promised Land.
Jesus takes this opportunity to affirm the indissolubility of marriage, as God originally intended at Creation. He quotes the words of Genesis which we find in today's First Reading. But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.' 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one.' So they are no longer two but one. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder. The Lord declares that the unity and indissolubility of marriage had been established from the beginning. This teaching was so surprising to the disciples that once they had left the crowd they asked Jesus to explain it again. And he said to them: 'Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her and if she divorces her husband and manes another, she commits adultery'. It would be hard to express the matter more clearly. His words were of an unmistakable clarity. How is it possible that there are Christians who call into doubt this teaching on marriage and continue to consider themselves followers of Christ?
It is a fundamental duty of the Church to reaffirm strongly the doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage. To all those who, in our times, consider it too difficult, or indeed impossible, to be bound to one person for the whole of life, and to those caught up in a culture that rejects the indissolubility of marriage and openly mocks the commitment of spouses to fidelity, it is necessary to reconfirm the good news of the definitive nature of that conjugal love that has in Christ the foundation and strength.
Being rooted in the personal and total self-giving of the couple, and being required by the good of the children, the indissolubility of marriage finds its ultimate truth in the plan that God has manifested in his revelation: He wills and He communicates the indissolubility of marriage as a fruit, a sign and a requirement of the absolutely faithful love that God has for man and that the Lord Jesus has for the Church. This bond can be broken only by death. It is an image of the bond between Christ and his Mystical Body.
The dignity and stability of marriage is of the greatest importance to the future of families, of children and of society itself. The moral health of peoples is closely tied to the condition of matrimony. When matrimony is corrupted, then society itself is sick, perhaps gravely ill. This is why we need to pray for and take care of families.