Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 10, 1-12
Jesus came into the district of Judea and across the Jordan.
Again crowds gathered around him and, as was his custom,
he again taught them.
The Pharisees approached him and asked,
“”Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?””
They were testing him.
He said to them in reply, “”What did Moses command you?””
They replied,
“”Moses permitted a husband to write a bill of divorce
and dismiss her.””
But Jesus told them,
“”Because of the hardness of your hearts
he wrote you this commandment.
But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.
So they are no longer two but one flesh.
Therefore what God has joined together,
no human being must separate.””
In the house the disciples again questioned Jesus about this.
He said to them,
“Whoever divorces his wife and marries another
commits adultery against her;
and if she divorces her husband and marries another,
she commits adultery.”
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The importance of commitment
1. Teaching. The gospel begins by saying that people gather round Jesus and that He teaches them because He knows people have doubts, that there are things that are not easy in life and that it’s difficult to walk along with those uncertainties. He knows not everything is understood and nobody is born knowing everything. Many times, in life you will trip up and make mistakes because nobody can always have the winning hand nor buy success. Before pointing your finger at someone, remember there are other fingers pointing at you. In this life no one can say “that won’t ever happen to me,” because you don’t know what tomorrow holds. That’s why Jesus stops and teaches. He teaches with mercy because He knows we are weak and in Him we find strength.
2. Hardness of heart. It’s worth clarifying that divorce is an issue that happens, and, in several cases, it’s the only way out. A toxic relationship can be worse, destroying instead of constructing and the final result is a destruction of God’s image between spouses, and in front of their children. Hardness of heart occurs when dialogue disappears and when personal objectives prevail over marital or family ones. The heart becomes hard when you don’t listen to the other person, and you withdraw into yourself. What was a fluid relationship can become toxic and bitter. You need love, humility, and God’s presence.
3. The heart. There are many issues we must deal with, and I understand that we all make mistakes. But when the heart is lost in lust and in your own interests, when you only care about satisfying your appetites, when vanity takes over and you turn the person you love into an object for your satisfaction, then that is manipulation. Ask God for the grace to have a healthy heart, which allows you to strengthen your relationship with true love. How can we know what true love is? It is enough to know that it bears life and knows how to face reality, both family and personal, to give it to God.
Remember that something good is on the way!
God bless you and be with you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
