1 Jas. 5: 9-12; Mk. 10: 1-12
The readings and responsorial for this day link three themes: perseverance, mercy, and truth in marriage. “Let your ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ mean ‘No”. It reminds me of another common saying “say what you mean and mean what you say”. The God of truth isn’t interested in excuses, his word is truth and he who seeks truth is consecrated to Him. The issue of marriage and divorce is a “hot” debate in the church under Pope Francis. Pope Francis has encouraged the church in mercy to review applications for annulment with greater efficiency and expediency so couples can receive the sacraments. In the last few years there is the debate of whether a divorced person remarried can receive communion. The church recognizes today’s gospel as a sign of “No”. It is an adulterous relationship.
Why do Pharisees in the gospel event ask the question? They know the laws of the temple and Jesus lets them answer their own question, it is “Yes”. They were testing Jesus in defense of all their laws to accuse him if he dared to claim otherwise. “Because of the hardness of your hearts” God allows Moses to make for special circumstances. The fact they ask the question indicates the possibility this allowance was abused, a simple way out of marriage for convenience, a sin before God. Jesus provides the perfect truth.
Recall the story in scripture of the woman who marries seven brothers and each dies on their wedding night. Whose wife will she be is asked of Jesus. His response is that in heaven there is no marriage, our joy will be God. We live in times where divorce is more common that fidelity to a marriage and perseverance to our commitment is not a virtue of value but an inconvenience. A divorce person however can still receive the sacraments. The sin is in remarriage without annulment of the first marriage. Annulment recognizes that the first marriage is invalid opening the door to remarriage in view of the circumstances.
Pope Francis in “Amoris Laetitia” opened the dialogue for remarried couples to receive communion reaffirming the Catholic teaching on the “primacy of conscience”. The CCC 1790 states “individuals are obligated to follow their conscience” but the church recognizes it must be an informed conscience by church teaching or risk falling into moral relativism. Recently in a letter to the Argentine bishops in Buenos Aires he declared his letter as “authentic magisterium” which means “official teaching” of the church. In the letter he provides “guidelines” on handling divorce and remarried Catholics. In the guidelines he asserts “that in certain circumstances, a person who is divorced and remarried and is living in an active sexual partnership might not be responsible or culpable for the mortal sin of adultery. The guidelines add that “Amoris Laetitia” opens up the possibility of access to the sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist.” The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium states the faithful are instructed to give a “religious submission of mind and will” to teachings that are authentic magisterium though the teaching may not be an infallible “declaration on faith and morals” (National Review, Tyler Arnold, 12.12.17, 5:00 p.m.) Thus the debate in need of truth and reconciliation.
Jesus says to the disciples after the resurrection “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven and whose sins you retain are retained” (Jn. 20:23). The church is given great authority for right judgement of truth but also for mercy. The Holy Father who stresses dialogue has begun a very important one in an age of high divorce rates. Why is it so high? There is no one answer. One thing I have seen in my years as a counselor is that couples don’t know their spouse. The reason is not always a lack of attention, especially in the beginning when everything is done “together”. To know the other, the other must know themselves and share who they are as a person, not just justify their behavior as “this is who I am”. Confusion and misunderstanding comes from a lack of deeper sense of awareness of who God created us to be and living it out. If we now ourselves as a child of God we grow in maturity, secure in who we are and able to be open about our inner self. The reality is we are in continuous growth and development in every stage of life and every stage has its unique challenges of life.
In conclusion I share a story of my parents. One day while visiting my mother she shared she did not know what else to do with my father. He had become so difficult to live with and her tolerance had reached a climax. Knowing some of what she was referring to understanding the circumstances of their situation, and the power to change rested in him not her. I said simply, “Mother that is your cross to bear.” She would often remind me of what I had said to her that day and it seemed that it allowed her to place it in perspective of a spiritual sacrifice she could bear finding meaning in her struggle in marriage. Our first reading reminds us of the need for perseverance, “In good times and in bad” all for the glory of God.
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