Faith Daily | 12 August 2022

PRAYER of the DAY - APBA p570

Grant to us, Lord, we beseech you,

the spirit to think and do always such things as are right,

that we, who cannot do anything that is good without you,

may by you be enabled to live according to your will;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

GOSPEL for the Day: Matthew 19: 3-12

3Some Pharisees came to him, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?” 4He answered, “Have you not read that the one who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ 5and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? 6So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” 7They said to him, “Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her?” 8He said to them, “It was because you were so hard-hearted that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. 9And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another commits adultery.” 10His disciples said to him, “If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” 11But he said to them, “Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given. 12For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.”

GOSPEL REFLECTION: Catriona Tullberg

The Pharisees ask Jesus about divorce, trying to catch him out and make their own practices more palatable. Relationships ask a lot of us where blame shifts back and forth and clarity about God’s position can get lost.

Matthew recounts a situation when Jesus is challenged by the Pharisees to clarify the legal justification for divorce. He refers to Adam and Eve and God’s plan for man and woman to become One flesh when they leave the parental home and move into a faithful relationship. They, the Pharisees, knowing the demands of relationship, pursue the argument with reference to Moses and the practice of issuing a certificate of dismissal to enable divorce. Jesus makes clear that God would view divorce as a sin of adultery by the man unless the woman is unfaithful.

The disciples draw attention to the life of the celibate who might have an easier time of it without marriage. Some eunuchs even taking on that status in order to move towards the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus, almost in contradiction, continues to bless the children coming to Him, thus endorsing their passage to God’s Kingdom.

This generous gesture from Jesus seems to speak with love after the sternness of explaining God’s purpose.

FINAL PRAYER

Lord of Life, we can never be thankful enough that you have given us each other.

It is wonderful that we need not face this day alone, but can plan and proceed to our tasks together.

More than belonging to each other - bound by ties of love and caring - we belong to you, and to your great world family.

Let no selfishness of ours shut us off from any today.

Amen.