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.
