Word to the Wise
Friday, August 18, 2023 - Friday in the 19th Week in Ordinary Time
[Josh 24:1-13 and Matt 19:3-12]Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?" He said in reply, "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]
I have been the celebrant at many marriage ceremonies over my 52 years as a priest. Some of these marriages have ended in civil divorce for a variety of reasons. The Pharisees who approached Jesus were confident in their minds that divorce was a "given" because of Moses' permission, but they weren't the only ones who thought that. The disciples also saw it as an established practice. If we are honest, we have to admit that divorce is considered a "given" in our secular society and is becoming one even in our own Catholic world. The divorce rate for Catholics is now approaching that of the general population.
Although Catholic tradition was slow to recognize marriage as a sacramental event, Jesus' teaching has been present from the time he was living among us. And once the church came to a realization of the sacredness of marriage and the importance of the commitment both for the individuals and for the children and for society in general, the teaching of Jesus became a sacramental and legal reality. But the teaching still remains a challenge in a consumer-oriented society in which a marriage becomes a commodity like a job or a mortgage!
An engaged couple once asked me what they should be talking about. In response I sat down and wrote some questions that had arisen in my experience with engaged and married couples as well as my experience working with annulments. But, even if the couple goes over these carefully and proceed to marry, unless their union is a matter of faith and not just a legal ceremonial celebration, the teaching of Jesus remains unrealized. The preparation process is much better now than before, but the understanding of matrimony as a sacred matter of faith is battling for a place at the table!!! AMEN