Friday, February 25, 2022

 Friday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

(James 5:9-12; Mark 10:1-12)

The two readings today bring up difficult issues in Church practice.  In the first reading, which echoes what Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, James forbids oath-taking.  Then, the gospel relates Jesus’ prohibition of divorce.  Again, Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount is reiterated.

Theologians as great as John Chrysostom have held to a literal interpretation of Jesus’ and James’ prohibition of oath.  Yet the majority over the centuries have understood the dictum as a ban on frivolous and insincere oaths.  After all, the name of God should always be held in esteem.  St. Paul is cited as using a kind of oath in his letters.  It is best that we use oaths sparingly and never carelessly mention God’s name.

Moses allowed divorce as do many Christian churches and faith communities.  When a marriage breaks down in the Catholic Church, one of the partners often seeks an annulment.  This legal decree states that there was not a valid marriage from the beginning.  It is often difficult, however, to distinguish valid and invalid marriages, especially when the basis for judgment is a state of mind.  Couples contemplating marriage should be encouraged to look honestly at themselves and one another. If there are serious compatibility issues, they should be dissuaded from marrying.  In some cases it may be better to refuse them the Sacrament.

Friday, May 25, 2018

Friday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

(James 5:9-12; Mark 10:1-12)

Before epoxy glues were sold commercially, scientists would demonstrate their strength to students.  They took two pieces of chain with plugs at the end and fastened them together with the epoxy.  Then they asked two husky boys to pull on either side of the chain.  Meanwhile, they put a safety cord connecting both sides in case the chain should give.  Of course, the boys could not pull the cemented chains apart.  The epoxy glue held the two sides together as if they were always one.  In today’s gospel Jesus is saying that marriage has a comparable solidity.

The permanence of marriage evidently has always been at issue.  When Moses saw the problem of troubled marriages, he wrote a provision for divorce into the Law.  However, Jesus will not accept Moses’ allowance as the Creator’s intention.  He forbids divorce as against the design of matrimony.  He uses strong language to defend his position.  Those who divorce to marry another person commit adultery.

Divorce continues to plague society and, therefore, the Church.  Recently some bishops have tried to allow for some exceptions to Jesus’ rule.  However, Pope Francis has concluded that Jesus’ prohibition remains intact.  True, he has facilitated matrimonial annulments.  But in line with the synod called to consider the question, Francis supports the gospel tradition.

Friday, June 16, 2017

Friday of the Tenth Week in Ordinary Time

(II Corinthians 4:7-15; Matthew 5:27-32)

Pope Francis has been accused of creating confusion over today’s gospel message.  Noting the possibility of divorced and remarried persons receiving Communion in Orthodox churches, Francis floated the idea to the synod of bishops meeting two years ago in Rome.  It cannot be said with complete candor that just because Jesus in the gospel forbids marriage of divorced people, that it is absolutely impossible.  After all, in the very next section of the Sermon on the Mount he forbids the taking of oaths.  Yet presidents and peons have sworn in the name of God.

But divorce affects life at its deepest levels.  It ends a relationship where two people by word and deed have promised lifelong fidelity.  It often leaves children in desperation.  Moreover, as Christian marriage is a sacrament expressing Christ’s love for the Church, divorce becomes a countersign of that love.  Furthermore, the proscription of divorce has been the perpetual practice of the Church since antiquity.

Of course, Francis only wanted to exhibit God’s mercy.  Many innocent people have been adversely affected by divorce, and many divorced persons have undergone significant conversions.  Life’s contingencies do not always neat solutions to these situations.  Yet Francis eventually yielded to the majority opinion of the synod.  In his apostolic exhortation The Joy of Love he restates the traditional teaching of the Church with some pastoral recommendations. 

Friday, February 24, 2017

Friday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

(Sirach 6:5-17; Mark 10:1-12)

In today’s gospel Jesus both takes away the male prerogative to divorce and aligns marriage with the original intent of creation.  He also reverses the consequence of original sin.  At their judgment God tells Eve that she will be dominated by Adam.  Now by forbidding divorce, Jesus returns at least some of the equality between the two.  He seems to have a twofold purpose in this bold move: to save women from the ignominy of divorce and to urge husband and wife to become the best of friends.

The reading from Sirach indicates the value of such a relationship.  A “best friend” listens to one’s venting to help the person figure out the meaning of life’s vagaries.  A friend also protects one from the consequences of rash action by proffering wisdom when the person is angry or confused.  Many friendships are only as deep as water on a tabletop.  They coax the partners to avoid responsibility and then offer platitudes when the situation turns stressful.

We want to encourage our young to look for spouses who will be true friends.  Too often men marry women more for their attractiveness than for their virtue.  Women often look for men for much the same reason as well as their capacity to provide life’s comforts.  These values are out of line with the Kingdom Jesus preaches.  If our young are to live as Jesus would have them, they will take as much care in finding the right spouse as a Fortune 500 corporation in choosing a CFO.  They will search for a person who is -- most of all – faithful, honest, caring, and wise. 

Friday, May 20, 2016

Friday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

(James 5:9-12; Mark 10:1-12)

One of Jesus’ more radical notions is given in today’s gospel.  His insistence that man and woman form an inseparable union in marriage conflicts not only with Mosaic law but with social convention of time immemorial.  It condemns divorce out of a concern for the weak, usually the woman and often the children of a family.

Today people want to transcend the problems of divorce with court-ordered child support and equal pay for women.  As just as these measures seem, they cannot replace adherence to Jesus’ call for marital fidelity.  Indeed, they beg the question.  One-parent families lack the social integration which children need to grow in virtue.  A man and a woman sharing love provide much more than economic security to their offspring.  They afford the family a palpable model of how God works in the Trinity.

The Church bravely stands for the family as the basic unit in society.  It does so not to hold on to a tradition of the past but to give hope for a more humane future.  Only through stable families will we create a society founded on love’s concern for the good of the vulnerable.

Friday, February 28, 2014

Friday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

(James 5:9-12; Mark 10:1-12)

Divorce occurs more frequently than anyone likes.  The couple may have married without knowing each other well or without knowing themselves.  Their individual lives may have been on completely different trajectories that they were unable to harmonize.  Whatever its reason, divorce leaves behind wreckage.  One of the partners is usually devastated with the sense of betrayal.  Children rightly feel the loss of love and often enough are relegated to poverty.  But it is not precisely for these reasons that Jesus condemns divorce in the gospel today.

Jesus denounces divorce because it violates God’s plan for the world.  In creating men and women as complimentary beings whose coming together transmits life to others, God constructs the basic cell of human society.  Its full realization, however, is not a momentary achievement but requires continual attention and sacrifice -- qualities that virtually define love. Only with healthy cells replicated a billion times around the world, will there be a civilization implicitly worthy of the name.

In the first reading the Letter of James tells us that our “Yes” must mean “Yes.”  This admonition is hardly ever more important than in marriage.  Yet it is not enough for marriages to succeed.  Beyond fidelity, we must give of ourselves significantly so that others as well as ourselves may thrive.

Friday, May 24, 2013

Friday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

(Sirach 6:5-17; Mark 10:1-12)

In a recent issue of First Things editor R.R. Reno comments on the nature of marriage as holding together two people of enormous differences.  In most cases at least a man and a woman are raised with different visions of life handed down by their parents.  They also respond emotionally to situations in different ways because of their distinct hormonal compositions.  Physical difference may pique some curiosity, but after a while there is less to share than among people of the same sex.  And yet the couple because of the sheer power of sexuality can form a loving union to nurture a family.  To support marital relationships, Jesus upholds a necessary injunction in today’s gospel.

Jesus is forced to comment on the perennially troublesome question of divorce.  Moses seems to make allowances for it, but the issue is the proper interpretation of Moses.  Should divorce be allowed for any pretext like the currently popular complaint of incompatibility?  Or should divorce be limited only in the case of an extreme irregularity like, for example, someone attempting marriage without the capacity for sexual intimacy?  Jesus knows that married couples need a strict law to support their efforts to overcome all the differences in a marital relationship. 

Traditional marriage is under assault from those who would dissolve it for any difficulty and, more recently, those who consider its purpose only to provide cover for sexual intimacy whatever the gender of the partners.  The condition of future generations is at stake, but the populace seems bent on ignoring Jesus along with the wisdom of the ages.