Dear Brothers and Sisters in Faith:
I find it interesting that our United States Supreme Court changed the legal definition of marriage for our country in the same year our Church called for an international convention on marriage and the family to be held in Philadelphia last week. This weekend’s readings from Genesis and Mark’s gospel address this very topic.
The story in Genesis is from the second chapter in which God declares that “it is not good for the man to be alone,” so God sets out to “make a suitable partner,” for the man. However, none of the animals prove suitable to help the man overcome his primal aloneness. So God uses the only human material available – Adam’s rib – to create a suitably different counterpart to the man. At this, the man utters the first human words recorded in scripture in praise of the woman: “This one, at last, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.” The passage closes with the statement we Catholics have come to believe, “This is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh,” which is part of our marriage ritual to this very day.
Jesus reflects on this same story while answering a question about divorce. Jesus reaffirms marriage as a covenant between a man and a woman.
Pope Francis, during his flight back to Rome from his visit to the US and Cuba, was asked if he supported individuals, including government officials, who refuse to abide by some laws, such as issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. He said, “Government officials have a ‘human right’ to refuse to discharge a duty…if they feel it violates their conscience. Conscientious objection must enter in to every juridical structure because it is a right.”
Bishop Cistone sent three messages to us about the sacrament of marriage since June. They included brief reflections on permanence, fidelity, and the procreation of children. I hope you were able to hear all three and meditate on the Bishop’s thoughts on Saint Augustine’s three ‘goods’ of marriage.
I hope you have a Christ-filled week!
St. Vincent de Paul, pray for us!
May the Holy Spirit always be with you.
Deacon Mike.