Unless it is Unlawfull

Friday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time &
Jane Frances of Chantel, Religious

Readings for Friday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time
Biographical Information about Jane Frances of Chantel

Reflection:

Whew! We have a full plate today. Let me give you a quick summary if you have not already read all the readings and explored the wisdom of St. Jeanne. At the top we have the Prophet Ezekiel announcing the forerunner of Baptism (did you catch that; “I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you; you became mine, says the Lord God. Then I bathed you with water, washed away your blood, and anointed you with oil. I clothed you with an embroidered gown,” he does it more explicitly in Ez 36 24ff, but this is clearly a reference.).

Next we get a very controversial passage from St. Matthew’s Gospel on divorce. We’ll look at that more closely later. And finally we remember St. Jeanne who was inspired by St. Francis de Sales and founded the Order of the Visitation of Our Lady that was designed for widows and laywomen and to this day focuses on their issues.

All of these topics could steal our attention today; however, because it is so controversial (because it is so misunderstood) we will focus on the Gospel and Jesus’ very disturbing comments. The only reason most parishes in the United States avoid these readings when they can is because, at face value, they seem to contradict the Church’s stance. It is important for us to understand that, for many years, divorce was categorically prohibited and a person who divorced and remarried faced excommunication. I don’t even like to think about how many faith filled people suffered needlessly because we (the Church) had not come to grips with what the Holy Spirit was going to accomplish through it.

I don’t have time to find out when that view changed (I suspect it was at the Vatican II Counsel), but today the Church view on divorce is consistent with its view on other sacraments. One is either married and the sacrament is present or one is married and the sacrament is NOT present to begin with. That does not mean the couple did not enter into a civil contract of marriage. I means that that civil contract was not accompanied by the Sacramental bond that, as the Lord has said; “So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate.” That bond, where we can envision God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit, standing between the man and the woman (I refuse to go any were else with that) holding them in an unbreakable union, is what the Lord speaks of above.

And there in lies the rub. A vast majority of people do not see the distinction between the civil bond made by man as being different from the sacred bond witnessed in the Sacrament of Matrimony. Is it any wonder then that non-Catholics don’t understand the Church’s intense educational process for people who want to be married (Sacramentaly!) in the Catholic Church? Shoot, many Catholics don’t understand the requirement. And what is worse is that many don’t understand it even after they have gone through it. I think the hormones somehow block that part of the brain.

What is important for us from the scriptural perspective here is that when Jesus says; “I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.” “Unless the marriage is unlawful…” That parenthetical phrase, we interpret as saying, in essence, if we misunderstand the presence of the sacramental bond or if the marriage is performed only as a civil ceremony without even the pretext of God’s presence in the relationship. That one caveat is what was missed in our earlier understanding of the Lord’s intent. Given what came next, we should have caught it.

We have been trapped once more by the richness of the scriptural offerings today and are running long. I will leave the deep debate for others wiser and more learned (that means you Deacon John Cameron of the Tribunal). Pax