Word to the Wise
Friday, August 14, 2015 - Friday in the 19th Week in Ordinary Time
[Josh 24:1-13 and Matt 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?" So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate." [Matthew]
AUGUST 14 ST. MAXIMILIAN KOLBE ofm.conv.
These words are pretty clear! They were clear when they were said, at least. The Pharisees responded from their particular context, the law of Moses. Jesus responded that the law of Moses was a matter of expediency and the words of Genesis stated God's purpose "from the beginning." The disciples were amazed, too, and said, that if divorce was not possible, it would be better not to marry! What does our society think?
Jesus replies to the disciples that "Not all can accept this word, but only those to whom that is granted." What does this mean for marriage today?" The recent Supreme Court decision about allowing the legal definition of marriage to include same sex unions introduces yet another challenge.
The upcoming Synod on the Family has Jesus' teaching in front of it. It has cultural and legal practices about marriage and divorce in front of it. It has divorced and remarried Catholic parents with children making first communion without the parents' participation! It has pastoral care for same-sex unions in front of it.
Jesus' teaching seems to me to be the only one that makes sense. It calls attention to the plan of creation "from the beginning," that humans have managed to mess up by treating marriage as a kind of consumer item. Can we set that aside simply because humans make mistakes and some marriages are clearly mistakes? As a pastor, I know the challenges that are created by marriage from a pastoral care perspective. I hope the Synod on the Family can shed some light on it. In the meantime, I pray for my married friends that they can continue to stay with the way God intended marriage to be "from the beginning." AMEN