FRIDAY, NINETEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
Memorial of St Maximilian Mary Kolbe
Ez 16: 1-15, 60, 63 Is 12: 2-6 Mt 19: 3-12
THE PROMISED HEART OF FLESH
“They are no longer two, but one flesh.” When Jesus says this, He highly esteems the sanctity of marriage and explains from the Old Law what God has ordained in the union of man and woman. Firstly, He calls to mind the creation story where God says “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Gen 2:18) and how He made woman out of the rib of man, enjoining them together. This union ordained by God and entered into by one woman and one man is sacred, holy and pleasing to God.
Although Jesus had already spoken against divorce in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:31-32), He offers a deeper explanation here in response to the Pharisees. He tells them that Moses did not command divorce (as they misunderstand from Dt 24), but allowed it, even suffered through it because of their hardness of heart. The condition of hardness of heart continues in us even to this day, when our mind is not stayed on Him. We must allow God to give us a heart of flesh as in Ezek 36:26, “I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh”. It is this heart of flesh that enables us to live faithfully the vocation to which God has called each of us.
The final part of this passage shows how the disciples, feeling that marriage could be a daunting task, seek an escape. Jesus is quick to rebuke this tendency of escapism in each one of us. The call of God is never too daunting for a person of faith to undertake. The grace of God is given to those called to marriage to be in complete union with their spouse, and to those called to the single life for the sake of the Kingdom, to be in complete union with God. We rightfully rely on the grace of God and do not have anything to boast about, but the Lord (1 Cor 1:30-31). We rely on the heart of flesh that the Lord gives us, to make us more like him.
Response: Your anger turned away and you comforted me.
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