Gospel: Matthew 19:3-12
Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying, “Is it lawful
for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?” He said in reply, “Have
you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female 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? So they are no longer two, but
one flesh.
Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate. They said
to him, “Then why did Moses command that the man give the woman a bill of
divorce and dismiss her?” He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your
hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was
not so.
I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful)
and marries another commits adultery. His disciples said to him, “If that is
the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry. He answered, “Not
all can accept this word, but only those to whom that is granted. Some are
incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made
so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the
Kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.
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Reflection:
A cohabiting millennial couple was asked: “Why are you not getting
married yet?” They both answered, “This is the trend right now, live together
first and then after a few years if we find ourselves compatible perhaps we can
marry.”
Sad to say but this is the reality of our times, few are getting married
yet many are cohabiting without the benefit of the Sacrament of Matrimony. Few
are getting married yet many are going through premarital sex.
Why is this so? Perhaps this is influenced by the liberated mindset of
the millennials today. Or perhaps this is influenced by the modernity of our
time. Are modernity of time and liberated mindset to blame for the disinterest
of some millennials toward the Sacrament of Matrimony? Or it’s the failure of
parents to instill the sacredness of the Sacrament of Matrimony to their
children?
In today’s gospel Jesus is hammering our stubborn minds regarding
the sacredness of the Sacrament of Matrimony. That marriage is not just a piece
of paper that a married couple can tear apart when they so desire. Marriage is
not like food that we eat then we spew it our when we don’t like it anymore.
Therefore, we have to think deeply before we plunge into marriage. And once
we are already in the marriage we have to make it work by sacrificing our own
comforts if need be. We also have to avoid the many temptations that might
destroy the marriage. Because when we allow temptation to creep into the
marriage we surely will pay for it.
For Jesus marriage is without end and it’s not simply a contract but a covenant which involves the man and the woman and the Lord’s active presence in their marriage. – Marino J. Dasmarinas
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