MARRIAGE
EZEKIEL 16:1-15, 60, 63; PSALM – ISAIAH 12; MATTHEW 19:3-12
In the first reading, Ezekiel narrated how Israel betrayed God’s love. God so loved and cared for the people of Israel but with time Israel abandoned God. It is an utter ingratitude not to return love for love. We are loved by God we should remain faithful to him.
To demonstrate this bond, the Gospel presents us with the theme of marriage. Marriage is a covenant of true love that demands love for love. Marriage is God’s institution, not man’s invention. Man invented divorce, from the beginning it was not so. Christ expresses his displeasure with divorce since it does not capture the true meaning of love and the plan in the heart of the Father since the foundation of the world.
Thus, he exhorts us to embrace the challenges of our status without condemning those already caught up in this web. Marriage without divorce may sound impossible in today’s world but it is possible if love truly exists.
Lastly when Jesus says divorce only on the ground of unchastity, he meant to say divorce only when it is an illegal union. Why would anyone want to stay in am illegal union? Such a union was not a marriage in the first place. However, where there is violence; separation is allowed until there is healing.
St. Maximilian Kolbe whose memorial we celebrate today, manifested sacrificial love. He volunteered to die in place of a prisoner in Auschwitz and was killed by injection on this day, 1941. Canonized in 1982, he’s the patron of journalists, families, prisoners, and the pro-life movement.
LET US PRAY
That all married couples out there; especially those at the verge of breaking, may you find strength and wisdom!
Fr. Daniel Evbotokhai
