BREAKING THE BREAD OF THE WORD (# 45)
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B – October 5, 2003
BIBLE READINGS
Gn 2:18-24 // Heb 2:9-11 // Mk 10: 2-16
I. BIBLICO-LITURGICAL REFLECTIONS
This true story of enduring love happened a few years ago in the Philippines. The parents of a friend, Fr. Allan Lastimosa, went to visit him at his parish. They had a beautiful time together, especially when they celebrated the mother’s birthday. Soon it was time for his beloved parents to sail for their hometown on the island of Cebu. Fr. Allan brought his parents and a nephew to the pier in Manila and sent them off. As they were about to sail, the father commented, “The weather doesn’t look good!” But there seemed to be no real cause for alarm. And so the ship set off for a day’s journey to Cebu. That was the last time Fr. Allan would see his mother and father. They were among the fatalities when the boat was caught offshore by a typhoon and capsized. The nephew survived to tell the beautiful story of their sacrificial love and nuptial fidelity. Fr. Allan’s father refused to leave his infirm and debilitated wife behind. He would rather die than leave her. Death did not separate them, but perfected their marriage covenant. Indeed, their love for each other is a paradigm of the irrevocable unity of “what God has joined together …” (Mk 10:9).
The Gospel reading of today (Mk 10:2-16) continues to present the radical demands of Christian discipleship. The Divine Master’s teaching on marriage is a further challenge to those who wish to follow him. According to the biblical scholar, Philip Van Linden, “at the core of Mark’s Gospel message is Jesus’ challenge to spouses to live in faithful and perpetual union until death.” Citing Gen 1:27 (“God made them male and female”) and Gen 2:24 (“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”), Jesus presents marriage as an expression of God’s will for the union and perfection of man and woman. In the divine plan, the married couple constitutes “one flesh” and their covenantal relationship is enduring. Jesus Master thus asserts radically: “Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate” (Mk 10:9).
Jesus enunciates the ideal of indissoluble marriage in the context of the divine plan and the Reign of God that he has come to establish. But the reality of human weakness and sin militates against this noble ideal. Wilfred Harrington comments: “The fact remains that Christians, no less than others, are human and frail. The entire question of divorce seems to call for great realism in looking at individual persons and the concrete situations in which they find themselves. It calls for an awareness of the greatest realism of all, a reality surpassing the ideal of irrevocable unity in marriage. And this is the great love which Jesus himself has for each of us. He understands our humanness, for we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning, and he desires to give us the freedom in which to share his love. He is the truth who sets us free; in him rests the ultimate union of two in one flesh.”
Though cognizant of the painful issue of marital failure and divorce, the Church continues, then and now, to uphold the lofty ideal of the sacredness of the marriage covenant. In a world where marriage is a convenience, Christian couples are called to witness to the sacred character of the bond of matrimony. The authors of the Days of the Lord, vol. 5, remark: “The love that impels a man and woman to be united into one being is the reflection of the indefectible love of God for his creatures: spouses have received through grace the mission of witnessing to this love by living in faithfulness to their mutual commitment, as God remains faithful to those he has chosen through love … God proposes this ideal of marriage to weak human beings. But he places his trust in men and women created in his image and strengthened by the help of his grace, a trust inspired by his infinite love as a Father.”
The liturgical proclamation of this Sunday’s Gospel passage may include Mk 10:13-16 about Jesus’ encounter with the little children. The inclusion of this passage can give added meaning to Jesus’ teaching about the sacredness of marriage. Eugene Maly remarks: “We might wonder why the Church has included the passage on the little children in this reading. It must be for some deeper reason than that children are the expected fruit of happy marriages. More likely it is that to accept Jesus’ teaching on marriage requires the openness of children and a sense of dependence on God’s strength matching the child’s sense of dependence on the parents.” Indeed, with regard to the inviolability of the nuptial bond, the response of Christian couples to uphold God’s plan is made possible through his mercy and grace.
(Blessing of a Married Couple Outside Mass, cf. Book of Blessings)
Leader: Almighty and eternal God, you have so exalted the unbreakable bond of marriage that it has become the sacramental sign of your Son’s union with the Church as his spouse. Look with favor on N. ______ and N. ______, whom you have united in marriage, as they ask for your help and the protection of the Virgin Mary. They pray that in good times and in bad they will grow in love for each other; that they will resolve to be of one heart in the bond of peace.
Lord, in their struggles let them rejoice that you are near to help them; in their needs let them know that you are there to rescue them; in their joys let them see that you are the source and completion of every happiness. We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Assembly: Amen.
The following is the bread of the living Word that will nourish us throughout the week. Please memorize it.
“What God has joined together, no human being must separate” (Mk 10: 9).
Prepared by: Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang, PDDM