UNBREAKABLE BOND (08-12-13)

Matthew 19:6

“Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate.”

Many people have wondered why Jesus gave such a demanding teaching on marriage.  Forbidding divorce flies in the face of human experience.  This is obvious today when separation or divorce (as allowed in some countries) is so common, but it was true also back in Jesus’ day.  As we heard in the Gospel, Moses had to set up procedures for divorce.  Jesus went against a widespread practice.  He refused to recognize divorce. He says that to divorce your spouse and marry another is the same thing as committing adultery.

The only teaching we have is the one Jesus gave us: that marriage is a lifelong, unbreakable union between a man and a woman.  Because of that firm teaching, the Catholic Church has always considered marriage as the great icon of the union between God and his people. 

Ultimately, as Pope Benedict wrote, Jesus’ teaching about marriage is about more than our human relationships.  It is about the relationship of us to God and God to us: a passionate love which invites a total and exclusive response.  In that relationship above all:  What God has joined, no human being must separate.

And since God is the one who decisively makes every marriage, only God has the right to break a marriage.  And he does it by death.  Which is why the traditional and biblical marriage vows have one and only one limitation: “till death do us part.”

Rekindle your love for your spouse whom God has given you to be your partner for life, for richer and poorer, for better or worse, in sickness and in health – may the Lord our God blesses our marriage forever and ever.

Almighty Father, help us to remember when we first met and the strong love that grew between us.  To work that love into practical things so nothing can divide us.  We ask for words both kind and loving and hearts always ready to ask forgiveness as well as to forgive.  Dear Lord, we put our marriage into your hands.  Amen +

Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His mercy endures forever;