Word to the Wise
Friday, August 14, 2009 - St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe, ofm conv.
[Joshua 24:1-13 and Matthew 19:3-12]Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate.
One of the ministries that I do "on the side" is to serve as a "Defender of the Bond in Second Instance" for the Appellate Matrimonial Tribunal for the Dioceses of Texas. This means I am part of the review process for annulment cases which are decided on the diocesan level and sent to the appellate tribunal for review, as required by Canon Law. I've been doing work like this off and on since the late 1970's, so I've seen a great deal of marital wreckage! And I cannot say that I look forward, especially on a Sunday, to preaching on the text for today's gospel scripture because I know fully well that someone (and probably more than someONE) in the congregation may be divorced, going through a divorce, or already remarried "outside the church" or remarried after receiving an annulment - or all of the above! If the scriptures on forgiveness for the past couple of days have seemed difficult challenges, the one on divorce today will cause another deep breath! Among the Jews of Jesus' day, divorce was taken for granted. The issue brought to Jesus appears to have been simply a matter of a dispute between two different schools of law about what might be proper grounds for a divorce. It is clear that his own disciples were quite surprised by his response! Jesus takes the position that divorce is contrary to God's plan as expressed in Genesis, no matter what Deuteronomy said later! Furthermore, the line, unless the marriage is unlawful, has been and continues to be debated by Christian scripture scholars! It is not my intent to solve the debate over the text. Nor do I wish to get into the ongoing debate over the Church's pastoral response of granting annulments of various sorts (which seems to me like Moses' response to his people's "hardness of heart"). I want to call attention to the last few words of the passage: Not all can accept this word, but only those to whom that is granted......Whoever can accept this ought to accept it. Marriage and/or celibacy are a gift. Many want to receive the gift without the subsequent responsibilities that come with that gift. Others, through no fault of their own, are unable to manage the gift once they've received it. I take no pleasure in reading through the dozens of "cases" that I review each month. It is unrelenting sadness. My own intent is to continue to promote the gift and urge everyone who wants to open it to do so after careful preparation and to do so with every intent of making it a lifetime gift - one that keeps on giving. AMEN
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