Matthew 19:3-6 NRSVue
3Some Pharisees came to him, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?” 4He answered, “Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
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Some thoughts on this scripture
Reflection
How many good Christians wish you had never uttered these words, Lord! They
put me in mind of friends and acquaintances who feel cut off from Communion
with the church because they have separated what God joined together. Perhaps
the vocation to full Christian marriage is as rare and special as the
vocation to religious life in community: something we would not have thought
of only for the Gospel. When it works, and lasts for decades, it is a miracle
of grace. Those who fail to make it work can still be sure of your love and
compassion. I pray for them, as suffering members of Christ's body.
Reflection
How rich a description of what marriage can be! /Leaving father and mother/
-- no running back to parents when married existence grows difficult. /Joined
to the spouse/ -- with a communication so open that you know what the other
is feeling at any time. /Become one flesh/ - finding in sexual union a
channel of deep and healing love. Marriage has not grown easier with the
years. I ask God to bless my married friends.