Reflection for Friday August 18, Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time: Matthew 19:3-12

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 the 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.

For Jesus marriage is without end and it’s not simply a contract but a covenant which involves the married couple and HIS active presence in their marriage. – Marino J. Dasmarinas