Twenty-seventh Sunday in OT ‘B’

Today’s Scripture readings are about the bond of love that marriage creates between a man and a woman, a bond that God wishes to be permanent. These readings challenge the spouses to practice the fidelity of their ever-faithful God, honoring their holy covenant commitment before Him.

The First Reading from Genesis explains God’s original plan concerning sex and marriage. It teaches us that God made man and woman for each other. And so, in marriage they are no longer two but one, united by an unbreakable bond. The Reading also describes the institution of marriage and shows that monogamy was God's intention from the very beginning.

The Responsorial Psalm expands the marital theme of the First Reading and the Gospel to include the children born of the union. Since the children enrich the lives of their parents, the Psalmist prays: “May you see your children’s children.”

The Second Reading, taken from the Letter to the Hebrews, reminds us that Jesus became one of us, bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. As one of us, he “tasted death for everyone.” He was not only the Sacrifice, but also the High Priest. We are now His brothers and sisters, joined to Him, and through Him bonded with God. Christ became the brother and Savior of all people – the good and the bad, the happily married and the divorced, straight, gays, lesbians - everyone. Jesus’ prohibition of divorce can be a source of suffering for those who face difficult married lives. Paul suggests that we have to accept pain as Jesus did, as the suffering we should endure on the way to glory.

The spouses need to work hard to create a good marriage. Marriage is a union based on committed sharing and forgiving, sacrificial agape love. It requires a lot of mutual adjustments, generosity and good will to forgive and ask for forgiveness, sincere cooperation in training children and raising them as practicing Catholic Christians, and also daily strength from God obtained through personal and family prayers and participation in the parish liturgy.

We always need to reach out with Christian sympathy to the divorced families... The parish community needs to accept them with respect, compassion, sensitivity, love and support. In our Church they can file for annulment of their previous marriage and remarry.