Friday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Today’s Reflection
Gospel: Mt 19: 3-12
August 18, 2023 | Friday
Some Pharisees approached him. They wanted to test him and asked, “Is a man allowed to divorce his wife for any reason he wants?”
Jesus replied, “Have you not read, that, in the beginning, the Creator made them male and female? And the Creator said: Therefore, a man shall leave father and mother, and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one body. So, they are no longer two, but one body. Let no one separate what God has joined.”
They asked him, “Then why did Moses command us to write a bill of dismissal in order to divorce?” Jesus replied, “Moses knew the hardness of your hearts, so he allowed you to divorce your wives; but it was not so in the beginning. Therefore, I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, unless it be for immorality, and marries another, commits adultery.”
The disciples said, “If that is the condition of married man, it is better not to marry.” Jesus said to them, “Not everybody can accept what you have just said, but only those who have received this gift. There are eunuchs born so, from their mother’s womb. Some have been made that way by others. But there are some who have given up the possibility of marriage, for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who can accept it, accept it.”
Today’s Reflection:
A friend once told me, “Is it not unfair that married couples cannot avail divorce and end their marital sufferings while priests, who are ordained to serve God can, in a particular grave reason be easily dismissed?”. Comparing clerical state and married state is what is truly unfair because each state has its own set of commitments. A married state is not less than a priesthood but they should be recognized individually. The pervading sentiment among us to call on the Church to recognize divorce hurts the very foundation of God’s relational commitment to us. Jesus sounds firm in the gospel about the institution of marriage because we need to recognize the implication of marriage to the rest of human relationships. After all, ecclesial life is also
similar to marriage. Jesus is the husband of the Church, He does not give up on her wife in spite of her sins, imperfections, and rebellion. That is why love as the bond of married life is not a simple commitment. It needs total commitment from the people involved. ./Vulnerasti, 2023
