Meditation Minute

My Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

 

"What God has joined together, let no man put asunder"

 

Gospel Reading: Mark 10:1-12

 

And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again; and again, as his custom was, he taught them. And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" He answered them, "What did Moses command you?" They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to put her away." But Jesus said to them, "For your hardness of heart 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. What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder." And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. And 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."

 

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus is again challenged by the Pharisees.  The message today talks not only about the fundamental purpose of man, but the need for man, both male and female, to be united in marriage.  God did not create man to be alone but to have a partner.  So significant is this union, that God says that the two shall become one.  In the beginning when God created man, he “created them both male and female”.  They were one being and then God extracted Eve from Adam.  Why? Adam would have a companion like him, while at the same time equal and complimentary to him.  Through marriage, male and female are reunited in the bond that God had created when He first made man.  The two should become inseparable as was the original creation of God.  Are there couples that when you think of one, you can’t help but think of the other?  This is what God has in mind when he created male and female, that together in marriage they form a single unit.  To put it simply, the indissolubility of marriage is not something that the church made up but is part of the natural law that God gave us from the very beginning of time before the fall of man.  Man, both male and female, naturally needs to be united.  This is why when we date, we are seeking a partner, someone of the opposite sex who we can spend the rest of our life.  Someone who we should be willing to totally give ourselves to with no expectations in return and under no conditions.  If the relationship is all about “me” and not about “you”, then this is a relationship inconsistent with the natural plan of God “from the beginning”.  The ultimate union we seek is a union with our Father in Heaven.  Our earthly relationship is to mimic our heavenly relationship with God.  Our heavenly relationship is about serving and being in communion with God.  This union goes to heart of the purpose of man.  Man is supposed to be rooted in the personal and total self-giving of himself to his spouse.  This same spousal relationship becomes the true model of man to each other.  This the same model created in the church.  The church is the bride and Christ is bridegroom.  Christ sacrificed everything for his bride.  We too are called to sacrifice everything for our bride.  We are called to give unselfishly with nothing expected in return.  God calls us to live as a spouse for all of mankind.  Once we understand our true spousal nature, we begin to see and experience the kingdom of heaven here and now.  We begin to understand the relationship we will experience in our eternal life.

 

A Simple Prayer

 

Lord God, you are the Bridegroom

You sacrificed everything for me and my sins.

You defeated Satan and brought us eternal life.

Give me the strength to be the Bridegroom.

 

Yours in Christ

Michael Marcon