What God Has Joined Together,
Let No Man Put Asunder
Introduction: May the Lord Jesus continue to draw you into deeper
relationships with GOD, with others, and with yourself, and may you be renewed by
those relationships.
Two days
ago, we celebrated the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi. St. Francis came to a point
in his life where he developed his relationship with GOD so much that it spilled
out into his relationship with others and with all of creation. He could call the
center of our solar system, Brother Sun, and our earthly satellite, Sister Moon.
He realized that because GOD was our Abba-Father
and Brother and life-giving Spirit, we were united with our Creator, Redeemer, and
Sanctifier and with all which/who had been created, redeemed, and sanctified. GOD
is the GOD of relationships. GOD invites us into deeper and more meaningful relationships
with the Triune GOD, other humans, and all of creation.
Being
in a relationship is what our faith is all about. Today’s readings describe different
types of relationships, all flowing from GOD. In the First Reading, we hear how
GOD created humans, making the woman from the man’s rib and allowing the two of
them to become one flesh. The Responsorial speaks of the blessings of a relationship
with GOD, with a spouse, with children, and with others. In the Letter to the Hebrews,
the author describes the relationship that Jesus established with humanity by His
incarnation and His death. In the Gospel, Jesus proclaims the sanctity of GOD’s
joining a wife and a husband together in a marriage relationship. Also, in the longer
version of the Gospel, we hear how Jesus loves children and asks His followers to
have the faith of a child.
First Reading Genesis 2:18-24: A man and his wife become one
body
Commentary: By giving the animals their names the
Man is taking part in their creation. Made in the image of God, the Man’s task
is to promote God’s work foster creation, and foster life, just as God himself
does. The creation of human beings is the climax of creation, which means that
human beings have a responsibility towards the rest of creation. The warm ideal
relationship between God and the Man before the Fall is particularly touching.
God’s care for the Man, putting him to sleep before the surgical operation and
himself sewing up the wound is delightful. So is God’s careful moulding of the
Woman and the presentation of his handiwork to the Man. It is important to see
that there is no unevenness between the sexes, each is personally moulded by
God. Their welcome for each other is the author’s pictorial way of showing that
the bonding between them in marriage is a divine institution.
Responsorial Psalm 128: May the Lord bless us all the days of
our life.
The psalm
speaks of the blessings GOD bestows upon those who are in the right
relationship with the LORD. The blessings flow from the proper response to
GOD’s graces. GOD is the originator of the relationship. When one recognizes
who GOD is in relationship to oneself (having “fear” or utmost respect for
GOD), then GOD enhances and fosters good relationships in other aspects of
one’s life. Business relationships will work out well as “you eat the fruit of
your handiwork” because one acts in a proper relationship with others. Family
relationships are also blessed, especially the relationship with one’s spouse
and with one’s children. Being in the right relationship will also affect one’s
country, leading to the establishment of peaceful social relationships.
Second Reading Hebrews 2:9-11: The one who sanctifies is the
brother of those who are sanctified
Commentary: The Letter to the Hebrews was written
for Hebrew priests, who had become Christians and were missing the traditional
rites of their people. It assumes knowledge of the Jewish ritual, and with many
allusions to scripture, it circles around two themes. Firstly, it shows that
the Jewish sacrificial rituals were a pale shadow, of which the reality and
fulfilment come in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus. Secondly, it points out that
the People of God are still on pilgrimage. God’s promise that they would reach
a place of rest was not fulfilled by their arrival in the Holy Land; it would
be fulfilled only in heaven. In today’s reading, we glimpse part of the first
theme. Jesus humbled himself to become man, only a little less than the angels
(the author is alluding to Psalm 8), to become perfect through his suffering.
He had to become fully human so that by being made perfect he might lead all
his brothers (and sisters) to the same perfection.
Gospel Mark 10:2-16: What God has united, man must not divide
Commentary: The Pharisees are putting a trick
question to Jesus, as is clear in Matthew’s fuller account. They knew the law
that permitted divorce, and they would quote this Law to Jesus. The Law allowed
divorce for ‘indecency’, but teachers were divided about what this meant: did
it mean adultery or a lesser fault? So their real question is what Jesus
considers grounds for divorce. As so frequently in his discussions with the
legal experts, Jesus goes beyond the question: God made man and woman such that
they should bond together permanently and become one thinking, living being.
The word used for one ‘body’, or one ‘flesh’, really means one entity, not a
hunk of meat, but a single, vibrant personality. God’s intention was not that
they should be separable again. So Jesus does not answer the question about
grounds for divorce at all. It is striking that here – and on other
occasions – Jesus’ authority is such that he feels able to alter the
sacred Law of Moses. For the Jews, the Law of Moses was God’s own gift, sacred
and unalterable by any human authority. By altering it, by annulling the
permission for divorce under certain circumstances, Jesus is implicitly
claiming divine authority.
Reflection: What is God's intention for our state in life, whether married or single? Jesus
deals with the issue of divorce by taking his hearers back to the beginning of
creation and to God's plan for the human race. In Genesis 2:23-24 we see God's
intention and ideal that two people who marry should become so indissolubly one
that they are one flesh. That ideal is found in the unbreakable union of Adam
and Eve. They were created for each other and no one else. They are the pattern
and symbol for all who were to come. Jesus explains that Moses permitted
divorce as a concession given a lost ideal.
Jesus sets the
high ideal of the married state before those who are willing to accept his
commands. Jesus, likewise sets the high ideal for those who freely renounce
marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:11-12). Both
marriage and celibacy are calls from God to live a consecrated life, that is to
live as married couples or as singles who belong not to themselves but to God.
Our lives are not our own, but they belong to God. He gives grace and power to
those who seek to follow his way of holiness in their state of life. Do you
seek the Lord and his grace in your state of life?
Do you seek to
help others draw near to the Lord? The parents who brought their children to
Jesus wanted Jesus to lay his hands upon them. They knew of the healing power,
both physical and spiritual, which came from Jesus' touch. Jesus, in turn,
rebuked his disciples for hindering the children from coming. No doubt the disciples
wanted to shield Jesus from the nuisance of noisy children. But Jesus delighted
in the children and demonstrated that God's love has ample room for everyone.
No one is
unimportant to God. He comes to each person individually so that he might touch
them with his healing love and power. May we never hinder our youth from coming
to the Lord to receive his blessing and healing power? And as we grow with age,
may we never lose that child-like simplicity and humility that draws us into
Christ's loving presence. Do you show kindness to the youth you encounter in
your neighborhood, home, and church and do you pray for them that they may grow
in the knowledge and wisdom of Jesus Christ?
Lord Jesus
Christ, your call to holiness extends to all in every state of life. Sanctify
our lives - as married couples and as singles - that we may live as men and
women who are consecrated to you. Make us leaven in a society that disdains
lifelong marriage fidelity, chastity, and living single for the Lord.
Daily Quote from the Early Church Fathers: Mutual servants, equally serving, by Tertullian,
160-225 A.D.
"Where are
we to find language adequately to express the happiness of that marriage which
the church cements, the oblation confirms, the benediction signs and seals, the
angels celebrate, and the Father holds as approved? For all around the earth
young people do not rightly and lawfully wed without their parents' consent.
What kind of yoke is that of two believers who share one hope, one desire, one
discipline, one service (Ephesians 4:4)? They enjoy kinship in spirit and in
flesh. They are mutual servants with no discrepancy of interests. Truly they
are 'two in one flesh' (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5; Ephesians 5:31). Where the
flesh is one, the spirit is one as well. Together they pray, together bow down,
together perform their fasts, mutually teaching, mutually entreating, mutually
upholding. In the church of God, they hold an equal place (Romans 12:15; 15:6;
Galatians 3:28; 1 Corinthians 12:12). They stand equally at the banquet of God,
equally in crises, equally facing persecutions, and equally in refreshments.
Neither hides anything from the other. Neither neglects the other. Neither is
troublesome to the other (Philippians 1:27). (Excerpt from TO HIS WIFE 2.8)
No separation: “Therefore let no man separate what God has
joined.” —Mark 10:9
Jesus does not
want husband and wife to be separated. Also, He became indignant at His
disciples for separating some children from Him (Mk 10:14). Furthermore, Jesus
does not want parents separated from their children. Let no overtime,
lifestyle, day-care, extracurricular activities, school, or other
responsibilities separate what God has joined together. Moreover, Jesus does
not want family members separated from each other by TV, overwork,
communication breakdown, and independent lifestyles. Jesus even refuses to
separate Christians from their enemies (see Mt 13:30).
The Lord does
not want sexual relations separated from marriage (Col 3:5). In addition,
Jesus, the Author of Life (Acts 3:15), does not want sperm and egg separated
through contraception or sterilization. He does not want marriage separate from
childbearing, nor childbearing separated from making these children disciples
for Jesus. The Lord abhors the separation of a newly created human being from
the womb of its mother. Let no one separate by abortion a baby from its mother.
Finally, let no
one separate Christians from one another. The Lord has joined us to Him and one
another in Baptism (1 Cor 12:13). We are brothers and sisters in Him. We must
live in the real Christian community and not in worldly isolation and
individualism (Heb 10:25). Let nothing separate what God has joined.
Prayer: Father, by my life may I never choose
separation from You forever (see Mt 25:32). “Indeed, it was fitting that when
bringing many sons to glory, God, for Whom and through Whom all things exist,
should make their Leader in the work of salvation perfect through suffering.”
—Heb 2:10. Praise the Risen Jesus, whose death and Resurrection has made us
one.
The
personal action for today: What does it mean to me that GOD desires
that I have a relationship with a person (more accurately, three Persons)? How is
my relationship with GOD at this point in my faith journey? How does my relationship
with GOD flow into my relationship with my family members, my friends, and my acquaintances?
How can I improve my various relationships – with GOD, within my family, with others?
What can I do to promote healthy relationships with other people?
Saint Bruno: This saint has the honor
of having founded a religious order which, as the saying goes, has never had to
be reformed because it was never deformed. No doubt both the founder and the members
would reject such high praise, but it is an indication of the saint’s intense love
of a penitential life in solitude.
Bruno was born in Cologne, Germany, became a famous
teacher at Rheims and was appointed chancellor of the archdiocese at the age of
45. He supported Pope Gregory VII in his fight against the decadence of the clergy
and took part in the removal of his own scandalous archbishop, Manassas. Bruno suffered
the plundering of his house for his pains.
He had a dream of living in solitude and prayer and
persuaded a few friends to join him in a hermitage. After a while, he felt the place
unsuitable and through a friend, was given some land which was to become famous
for his foundation “in the Chartreuse”—from which comes the word Carthusians. The
climate, desert, mountainous terrain, and inaccessibility guaranteed silence, poverty,
and small numbers.
Bruno and his friends built an oratory with small individual
cells at a distance from each other. They met for Matins and Vespers each day and
spent the rest of the time in solitude, eating together only on great feasts. Their
chief work was copying manuscripts.
Hearing of Bruno’s holiness, the pope called for his
assistance in Rome. When the pope had to flee Rome, Bruno pulled up stakes again,
and after refusing a bishopric, spent his last years in the wilderness of Calabria.
Bruno was never formally canonized, because the Carthusians
were averse to all occasions of publicity. However, Pope Clement X extended his
feast to the whole Church in 1674.
If there is always a certain uneasy questioning of the
contemplative life, there is an even greater puzzlement about the extremely penitential
combination of community and hermit life lived by the Carthusians. May we mirror
Bruno’s quest for holiness and unity with God.
Songs: Relationships by Tre’ Nelson:
Me Without You by TobyMac: