Nineteenth Friday of Ordinary Time

"Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate.” They said to him, “Then why did Moses command that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss her?” He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery."

We are constantly tempted to make excuses for our sins. This extends not only to sins like choosing to divorce a spouse (without an annulment) and then remarrying, but also other sins such as lying, acting uncharitably toward someone in need, etc. Our minds can construct excuses out of thin air, but these pretexts are empty in the eyes of God. He is not primarily concerned with our thoughts, but rather with our actions: good and evil. If we do evil, then He shall remember it until we seek His Divine Mercy. If we do good from our hearts, then He shall reward us with the graces we need to bear any burden and to one day join Him in His never-ending heavenly feast.

Are we in the habit of making excuses? How can we overcome this temptation and instead do God's Will without hesitation? In what areas of our life are our hearts hardened and what can we do to soften them?

O Lord, make us open to doing your will without delay or excuse.

Amen.

Seventh Friday of Ordinary Time

“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.”

We can harden our hearts in many different ways. We can do so by becoming cynical. We can do it through pride. We can even do it out of what we believe is right. Adam and Eve hardened their hearts when they ate of the apple. They decided for themselves what was right and wrong, denying God His place as Eternal Judge. There may be things we don't understand about our faith, but that is why we should constantly pray, "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief." Today's gospel is a hard teaching for many people. This is understandable. We all know there are good reasons to leave a marriage: abuse, infidelity, etc. However, the Church follows the words of Christ in this and makes clear that civil divorce does not break the bonds of marriage. There is a permanence to the vows of marriage that not even the Church can break. Yes, there is annulment, but it requires proof that the marriage was never valid because the bride or groom did not enter the marriage with full consent, maturity, faithfulness, or intent of having children. These aren't easy to prove in many cases, which is why the Church encourages people to go through marriage preparation before saying their vows. This is to drive home the fact that both parties need to take their vows seriously and not enter the union lightly.

Have we hardened our hearts to any truths of the gospels? Are we tempted to decide what is right and wrong rather than letting God be the Divine Judge? Do we respect the fact that we will not always understand the teachings of Christ, but that it is okay to believe in spite of our doubts?

O Lord, soften our hearts and help us believe in your good news.

Amen.