Word to the Wise
Friday, February 25, 2022 - Friday in the 7th Week in Ordinary Time
[Jas 5:9-12 and Mark 10:1-12,417]The Pharisees approached [Jesus] and asked, "Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?" They were testing him. He said to them in reply, "What did Moses command you?" They replied, "Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her." But Jesus told them, "Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment. 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 flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate." [Mark]ssssssssss
For every difficult commandment that Jesus gives, there will always be a lot of "What if's?" Jesus' teaching on divorce astonished his disciples who took divorce for granted because of Moses' permission in the law. [Note the one-sided, husband-only right!] But Jesus denies any divine approval of divorce and asserts the original divine intention in regard to marriage by quoting Genesis, which preceded the law of Moses - "from the beginning of creation...." Did Jesus propose an impossible ideal?
Lifelong marriage is not an impossible ideal as everyday evidence shows. But in our individualistic, "throw away," consumerist culture, marriage has become, for many, just one more item to possess and replace when unsatisfactory. The perseverance that the Letter of James urges in the first scripture for today (and throughout that letter) is not as strong as it needs to be to stand against those cultural elements. Apparently Moses felt the same way and decided not to fight the "hardness of hearts" that Jesus points to.
Yes, I know couples whose weddings I celebrated who have been divorced and remarried. I also worked for more than 20 years in the Catholic matrimonial tribunal system, which some call "Catholic divorce!" But, like all of Jesus' difficult teachings (cf. the Sermon on the Mount), I am very aware of the less than perfect efforts we Christians make to live up to them. We become tangled up in the "What if's?" and dismiss the teachings not directly but by conduct and social acceptance of something as a "necessary evil." It is still a little "jarring" to hear a student speaking of dividing their time off between their dad's house and their mom's house. If I am doing marriage preparation for that student, how do I urge perseverance? In preaching, as I am doing right now, what can I say to friends and family who have gone through a divorce? I cannot deny the force of Jesus' teaching. All I can do is to help a preparing couple to see the depth and beauty of the lifetime commitment which can only be realized with God's grace and human perseverance. AMEN
[NOTE TO THE BELOVED CONGREGATION. Each year at this time, the Southern Dominican Province, to which I belong, reaches out to friends and benefactors for assistance in educating our student brothers (seminarians) and caring for our aged (me) and infirm brothers. We call this the 1216 Campaign. If you are able to donate, you can send your help (checks should be made out to SOUTHERN DOMINICAN PROVINCE) to Southern Dominican Province, P. O. Box 8129, New Orleans, LA 70182. In the "reference line," just put "1216 Campaign - frR.B." for the bookkeeper's sake so the donation goes to the right account!" Many thanks for any help you can give]!