THE WORD BECAME FLESH

Friday of the seventh week in the Ordinary time, 2022

Jam 5: 9-12

Ps 103

Mark 10:1-12

What God has joined

Dear friends in Christ, Marriage is a beautiful institution created by God through which married couples participate in a very special way in the Godhead. Marriage is therefore the most cherished relationship in the world. Just as there are times of joy and happiness in marriage, so it is that there are moments of tensions and troubles that sometimes drive couples to the edge. Unfortunately, some who are unable to withstand the troubles even opt out by divorce. Let us pray, that the tensions married couples experience in their unions will serve to make them better in love for each other and not separate them. 

Our gospel reading for today (Mark 10:1-12) is on marriage. Some Pharisees had come to Jesus to test him and they chose the thorny issue of divorce by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” To answer them, Jesus wanted them to first understand what the law says and the reason, so that they can better appreciate what they teach. “What did Moses command you?” he asked, and they replied, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to put her away.” From that response, it seems so easy for a man to ‘discard’ his wife and take another, like someone changing his clothes. Jesus however explained to them, “For your hardness of heart 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…What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.” By this Jesus teaches, that marriage is meant to be a life-long relationship of love, that must not be broken. 

We must recognise, the tensions we have in many homes; however, divorce is often not a solution to many of the problems people face. According to Pope Francis, “Marital joy can be experienced even amid sorrow; it involves accepting that marriage is an inevitable mixture of enjoyment and struggles, tensions and repose, pain and relief, satisfactions and longings, annoyances and pleasures, but always on the path of friendship, which inspires married couples to care for one another.” (Amoris Laetitia 126) Obviously most people get into marriage with the hope that it will be a lasting relationship. They must therefore do everything possible to keep the relationship going, in peace, goodwill and love.

Let us pray: Lord, bless our homes and marriages with peace, goodwill and love. 

+Remain blessed