Thursday, May 19, 2016

Friday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

(Optional Memorial for Saint Bernardine of Siena, Priest)
 

“Wedding Feast at Cana” 
by Rufilio Manetti, 1620
 
 
 
Commentary:
 
Reading 1: James 5:9-12
 
Commentary on Jas 5:9-12
 
Just prior to this excerpt from the Letter of St. James, there is an exhortation to patience. There is also a clear expectation that the Parousia is at hand. The author then points to the example of the prophets, especially Job, to keep God foremost in their minds, especially during trying times, reemphasizing Christian patience. He concludes with a prohibition against “oath taking,” a means by which the Jewish community circumvented the binding force of the law, and avoided using God’s name in vain.
 
CCC: Jas 5:12 2153
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R. (8a) The Lord is kind and merciful.
 
 
Psalm 103 is a song of praise to God for his mercy. It recognizes both God’s mercy and our need, as sinners, for it. The psalm describes the qualities of God's mercy, its enduring expression of love for his people through the forgiveness of their sins.
 
CCC: Ps 103 304
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Gospel: Mark 10:1-12
 
Commentary on Mk 10:1-12
 
This passage gives us the scriptural support for the Church’s view of the Sacrament of Matrimony. The Pharisees’ question to Jesus, and their response to his question: “Moses permitted him to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her," shows that the Mosaic Law they were referring to (Deuteronomy 24:1) dealt with a contractual relationship. Jesus, in quoting Genesis (see Genesis 1:27 and 2:24), speaks instead of the spiritual bond which joins husband and wife. This bond cannot be broken (“…what God has joined together, no human being must separate").
 
CCC: Mk 10:8 1627; Mk 10:9 1639, 2364, 2382; Mk 10:11-12 1650; Mk 10:11 2380
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Reflection:
 
Understanding the reading from the Gospel of St. Mark is critical for us if we are to understand the Church’s view of the Sacrament of Marriage.  In the past the view was popularly held that the Church forbade divorce entirely because of the statement: “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
 
The historical difficulty here is the clear reference earlier in the passage stating: “Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate.”  The key idea in this verse is that God has joined the couple, not man. Marriage is not a civil contract that can be ratified by a Justice of the Peace or a civil judge.  Those whom God has joined in marriage share an unbreakable bond.  It is a covenant that includes God the Father and is seen as a living symbol of Christ and his bride, the Church.  If this bond is truly present, it cannot be broken.
 
Does this mean that all marriages witnessed by the Church include this sacramental bond?  We do our very best to insure they do, but the Sacrament of Marriage is a lived sacrament.  The Church does not “administer” the Sacrament of Marriage as it does Baptism or the Eucharist. 
 
The Church, through its marriage preparation programs, tries to insure the sacramental bond is present.  But, it is like a scientist using a very powerful microscope to look at the molecular structure of some material.  Is he able to see the chemical bonds that hold the material together and make it the compound it appears to be?  No, he cannot see the bonds but, depending upon how the material reacts under different circumstances (especially when he tries to take it apart) the bonds demonstrate their existence, even though they are invisible to the human eye.
 
The civil contract of marriage can be easily broken.  It is just like any business contract.  There are terms and conditions and there are remedies in civil law.  The only cost is legal fees.  If the civil contract is nullified in what was presumed to have been a Sacramental Marriage, does that mean the sacramental bond that was presumed to have existed at the time it was validly witnessed in the Church was also nullified?  No!  That is why there is a Marriage Tribunal in each diocese.  It is their job to make sure that the sacramental bond was never present.  If present, it cannot be broken, if not present, the civil bond was all that bound the couple in the first place.  And just to be very clear, like all other dogmatic and magisterial teaching about the Sacrament of Matrimony, Amoris Laetitia, the Holy Father’s Apostolic Exhortation on the family, did not change this understanding.
 
This whole view is widely misunderstood, even within the ranks of the faithful and , whenever we encounter these misunderstandings, we need to correct them.  Jesus said; “What God has joined together, no human being must separate.”  Thank God for his unfailing love for us.
 
Pax
 

[2] The picture today is “Wedding Feast at Cana” by Rufilio Manetti, 1620
 

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