GOSPEL POWER l AUGUST 12, 2022 - Friday of 19th Week in Ordinary Time

Saint Jane Frances de Chantal, religious

Gospel: Mt 19:3-12  

3 Some Pharisees came to Jesus, and to test him they asked, “Is it  lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?” 4 He answered,  “Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning  ‘made them male and female,’ 5 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’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh.  Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” 7 They  said to him, “Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of  dismissal and to divorce her?” 8 He said to them, “It was because you  were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives,  but from the beginning it was not so. 9 And I say to you, whoever  divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits  adultery.” 10His disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his  wife, it is better not to marry.” 11But he said to them, “Not everyone can  accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given. 12For there  are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who  have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have  made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let  anyone accept this who can.”

In responding to the question of divorce, Jesus goes back  to the Creator’s original intention to bring unity out of  diversity — to turn man and woman into one flesh. Marriage  is meant to reflect the Triune God’s undivided unity in the diversity  of persons. Divorce is never a part of God’s original intention but  the result of hardness-of-heart, of humanity’s stubborn seeking to  have its own way. Conjugal unity is not envisioned by God to be  an instant achievement. It is a gift given in the form of a potential,  like a seed to be sown and nurtured patiently day-by-day. Sacrifice  is a necessary element that brings it to maturity. Sadly, however, it is  the unwillingness to sacrifice that often drives couples to part ways.  Marriages that are solidly built on faith may be rare today, but they  justify Jesus’ uncompromising position on the issue of divorce. Jesus  himself has assumed the sacrifice necessary so that God’s purposes  may be fulfilled, for he was convinced that nothing would be impossible  for God. Lord Jesus, strengthen married couples who believe in the indissolubility  of marriage and faithfully live their commitment. Amen.