Marriage Matters–because God created it.

Marriage is the “foundation for the family, where children learn the values and the virtues that will make good Christians as well as good citizen.” - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan

Gospel Text: (MK 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."

Divorce is commonplace in our society. Many see it as a “necessary evil”, while others see it as a positively good choice or option. However, Jesus is very clear. Divorce from a valid marriage and subsequent remarriage is morally equivalent to adultery, with the difference that while adultery is a mortally sinful act, remarriage after divorce results in a mortally sinful state of life.

In today’s gospel Jesus explains why marriage cannot be dissolved by any human person. To claim the power to dissolve a marriage is to claim power over God. To claim this power is to deny the essence of marriage: that two have become “one flesh.”