From: Mark 10:1-12

The Indissolubility of Marriage

[2] And Pharisees came up and in order to test Him asked, “Is it lawful for a man
to divorce his wife?” [3] He answered them, “What did Moses command you?”
[4] They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to put
her away.” [5] But Jesus said to them, “For your hardness of heart he wrote this
commandment. [6] But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male
and female.’; [7] ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be
joined to his wife, [8] and the two shall become one.’ So they are no longer two
but one. [9] What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder.”

[10] And in the house the disciples asked Him about this matter. [11] And He
said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery
against her; [12] and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she
commits adultery.”

Jesus and the Children

[13] And they were bringing children to Him, that He might touch them; and the
disciples rebuked them. [14] But when Jesus saw it He was indignant, and said
to them, “Let the children come to Me, do not hinder them; for to such belongs
the Kingdom of God. [15] Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the King-
dom of God like a child shall not enter it.” [16] And He took them in His arms
and blessed them, laying His hands upon them.

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Commentary:

1-12. This kind of scene occurs often in the Gospel. The malice of the Phari-
sees contrasts with the simplicity of the crowd, who listen attentively to Jesus’
teaching. The Pharisees’ question aimed at tricking Jesus into going against the
Law of Moses. But Jesus Christ, Messiah and Son of God, has perfect under-
standing of that Law. Moses had permitted divorce because of the hardness of
that ancient people: women had an ignominious position in those primitive tribes
(they were regarded almost as animals or slaves); Moses, therefore, protected
women’s dignity against these abuses by devising the certificate of divorce; this
was a real social advance. It was a document by which the husband repudiated
his wife and she obtained freedom. Jesus restores to its original purity the digni-
ty of man and woman in marriage, as instituted by God at the beginning of crea-
tion. “A man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they
become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24): in this way God established from the very be-
ginning the unity and indissolubility of marriage. The Church’s Magisterium, the
only authorized interpreter of the Gospel and of the natural law, has constantly
guarded and defended this teaching and has proclaimed it solemnly in countless
documents (Council of Florence, “Pro Armeniis”; Council of Trent, “De Sacram.
Matr.”; Pius XI, “Casti Connubi”; Vatican II, “Gaudium Et Spes”, 48; etc.).

Here is a good summary of this doctrine: “The indissolubility of marriage is not a
caprice of the Church nor is it merely a positive ecclesiastical law. It is a precept
of natural law, of divine law, and responds perfectly to our nature and to the super-
natural order of grace” (St. J. Escriva, “Conversations”, 97). Cf. note on
Matthew 5:31-32.

5-9. When a Christian realizes that this teaching applies to everyone at all times,
he should not be afraid of people reacting against it: “It is a fundamental duty of
the Church to reaffirm strongly [...] the doctrine of the indissolubility of marriage.
To all those who, in our times, consider it too difficult, or indeed impossible, to
be bound to one person for the whole of life, and to those caught up in a culture
that rejects the indissolubility of marriage and openly mocks the commitment of
spouses to fidelity, it is necessary to reaffirm the good news of the definitive na-
ture of that conjugal love that has in Christ its foundation and strength (cf. Ephe-
sians 5:25).

“Being rooted in the personal and total self-giving of the couple, and being re-
quired by the good of the children, the indissolubility of marriage finds its ultimate
truth in the plan that God has manifested in His revelation: He wills and He com-
municates the indissolubility of marriage as a fruit, a sign and a requirement of
the absolutely faithful love that God has for man and that the Lord Jesus has for
the Church.

“Christ renews the first plan that the Creator inscribed in the hearts of man and
woman, and in the celebration of the sacrament of matrimony offers ‘a new heart’:
thus the couples are not only able to overcome ‘hardness of heart’ (Matthew 19:
8), but also and above all they are able to share the full and definitive love of
Christ, the new and eternal Covenant made flesh. Just as the Lord Jesus is the
‘faithful witness’ (Revelation 3:14), the ‘yes’ of the promises of God (cf. 2 Corin-
thians 1:20) and thus the supreme realization of the unconditional faithfulness
with which God loves His people, so Christian couples are called to participate
truly in the irrevocable indissolubility that binds Christ to the Church, His bride,
loved by Him to the end (cf. John 13:1).

“To bear witness to the inestimable value of the indissolubility and fidelity of mar-
riage is one of the most precious and most urgent tasks of Christian couples in
our time” (John Paul II, “Familiaris Consortio”, 20).

13-16. This Gospel account has an attractive freshness and vividness about it
which may be connected with St. Peter, from whom St. Mark would have taken
the story. It is one of the few occasions when the Gospels tell us that Christ be-
came angry. What provoked His anger was the disciples’ intolerance: they felt
that these people bringing children to Jesus were a nuisance: it meant a waste
of His time; Christ had more serious things to do than be involved with little chil-
dren. The disciples were well-intentioned; it was just that they were applying the
wrong criteria. What Jesus had told them quite recently had not registered:
“Whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; and whoever re-
ceives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me” (Mark 9:37).

Our Lord also stresses that a Christian has to become like a child to enter the
Kingdom of Heaven. “To be little you have to believe as children believe, to love
as children love, to abandon yourself as children do..., to pray as children pray”
(St. J. Escriva, “Holy Rosary”, Prologue).

Our Lord’s words express simply and graphically the key doctrine of man’s divine
sonship: God is our Father and we are His sons and daughters, His children; the
whole of religion is summed up in the relationship of a son with His good Father.
This awareness of God as Father involves a sense of dependence on our Father
in Heaven and trusting abandonment to His loving providence—in the way a child
trusts its father or mother; the humility of recognizing that we can do nothing by
ourselves; simplicity and sincerity, which make us straightforward and honest in
our dealings with God and man.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.

Readings at Mass

First reading	Ecclesiasticus 6:5-17 ©

A kindly turn of speech multiplies a man’s friends,

and a courteous way of speaking invites many a friendly reply.

Let your acquaintances be many,

but your advisers one in a thousand.

If you want to make a friend, take him on trial,

and be in no hurry to trust him;

for one kind of friend is only so when it suits him

but will not stand by you in your day of trouble.

Another kind of friend will fall out with you

and to your dismay make the quarrel public,

and a third kind of friend will share your table,

but not stand by you in your day of trouble:

when you are doing well he will be your second self,

ordering your servants about;

but if ever you are brought low he will turn against you

and will hide himself from you.

Keep well clear of your enemies,

and be wary of your friends.

A faithful friend is a sure shelter,

whoever finds one has found a rare treasure.

A faithful friend is something beyond price,

there is no measuring his worth.

A faithful friend is the elixir of life,

and those who fear the Lord will find one.

Whoever fears the Lord makes true friends,

for as a man is, so is his friend.

Psalm	Psalm 118:12,16,18,27,34-35 ©

Guide me, Lord, in the path of your commands.

Blessed are you, O Lord;

teach me your statutes.

I take delight in your statutes;

I will not forget your word.

Guide me, Lord, in the path of your commands.

Open my eyes that I may see

the wonders of your law.

Make me grasp the way of your precepts

and I will muse on your wonders.

Guide me, Lord, in the path of your commands.

Train me to observe your law,

to keep it with my heart.

Guide me in the path of your commands;

for there is my delight.

Guide me, Lord, in the path of your commands.

Gospel Acclamation	Ps110:7,8

Alleluia, alleluia!

Your precepts, O Lord, are all of them sure;

they stand firm for ever and ever.

Alleluia!

Or	Jn17:17

Alleluia, alleluia!

Your word is truth, O Lord:

consecrate us in the truth.

Alleluia!

Gospel	Mark 10:1-12 ©

Jesus came to the district of Judaea and the far side of the Jordan. And again crowds gathered round him, and again he taught them, as his custom was. Some Pharisees approached him and asked, ‘Is it against the law for a man to divorce his wife?’ They were testing him. He answered them, ‘What did Moses command you?’ ‘Moses allowed us’ they said ‘to draw up a writ of dismissal and so to divorce.’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘It was because you were so unteachable that he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female. This is why a man must leave father and mother, and the two become one body. They are no longer two, therefore, but one body. So then, what God has united, man must not divide.’ Back in the house the disciples questioned him again about this, and he said to them, ‘The man who divorces his wife and marries another is guilty of adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another she is guilty of adultery too.’