Friday, August 14, 2026

 

Memorial of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr

(Ezekiel 16:1-5.60.63; Matthew 19:3-12)

The Pharisees are playing hardball with Jesus as he and his disciples approach Jerusalem.  They are not testing whether he learned his catechism when they ask him about divorce.  They know that he has taught that marriage is a permanent union.  They want him to commit himself to opposing an article in the Torah that permits a man to divorce his wife with a written dismissal. 

Jesus is not intimidated by the truth.  He reiterates what he said in the Sermon on the Mount that it is a sin to divorce one’s wife to marry another woman.  As strong as Jesus is, he also is compassionate.  It is not impossible that Jesus has in mind homosexuals when he mentions those “incapable of marriage because they were born so.” 

There is no question of allowing so-called “homosexual marriage,” but there is reason to afford homosexuals special pastoral care.  Their genital desires can never be licitly satisfied.  Yet they may have fulfilling lives as they bear their cross behind Jesus.

 

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