Reading 1
The LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone.
I will make a suitable partner for him."
So the LORD God formed out of the ground
various wild animals and various birds of the air,
and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them;
whatever the man called each of them would be its name.
The man gave names to all the cattle,
all the birds of the air, and all wild animals;
but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man.
So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man,
and while he was asleep,
he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.
The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib
that he had taken from the man.
When he brought her to the man, the man said:
"This one, at last, is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
this one shall be called 'woman, '
for out of 'her man’ this one has been taken."
That is why a man leaves his father and mother
and clings to his wife,
and the two of them become one flesh.
Gospel
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."
In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about this.
He said to them,
"Whoever divorces his wife and marries another
commits adultery against her;
and if she divorces her husband and marries another,
she commits adultery."
Reflection
The words of Jesus in today’s Gospel remind us that God is active in the Sacrament of Marriage. This one-flesh union of husband and wife was designed by our Creator, as we read about in our first reading. Although marriage is a practice unique to human beings, it transcends human effort and custom. Marriage is more than a man and a woman desiring to come together—God Himself makes them one.
Jesus reinforces the indissolubility of marriage. He says that “what God has joined together, no human being must separate,” and it was because of the hardness of their hearts that Moses wrote this commandment for the Israelites, thus permitting divorce.
Today, we may see the skyrocketing divorce rate in our country and think: surely our hearts are still hard! If the Israelites in Moses’ day earned an allowance for divorce due to their weakness and hard-heartedness, why doesn’t Jesus grant us the same accommodation? What has changed?
We have Him. As naïve as that may sound, it is a profound truth. If we recognize that the existence and strength of marriage comes from God, then we can see how having the Son of God become man and reunite human beings with the Father is an advantage beyond anything the Old Testament Israelites had.
Jesus has taken all human sin and brokenness onto Himself and conquered it—including the brokenness that can be found in human relationships. If we let Him, He can eradicate the hardness of our hearts.
That said, our Church permits annulment in certain cases. The Holy Spirit has guided us to recognize that humans, fallen as we are, can enter marriage without the proper disposition of intention. In those cases, God, while loving and blessing the couple, has not joined them together in an indissoluble (unbreakable) bond. This teaching shows that Our Lord does respond in mercy to human failures, as He always has.
Even in those cases where the couple is properly disposed and sacramentally married, living out Christ’s teaching requires utter reliance on grace, frequent prayer, regular Confession and Holy Communion, and a humble spirit. Let us pray for holy marriages. Let us turn to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and ask Him to bless those who are married, to inflame their hearts, and to bring them to Heaven together.
Please be assured of my prayers for you before Our Lord, present in the Most Blessed Sacrament.
+ Bishop Schlert