Matthew 19:8
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."
All of us come from different backgrounds and marital situations. My parents divorced later in life. Many of my acquaintances have divorced. I know some people who I've thought, "Why isn't he or she married? They would make a great husband or wife." I've thought about others, "How could they be married the way they act toward each other?!" (Of course, this is me judging which is also a problem.) But we have probably all had those thoughts at one time or another. God calls all of us to a vocation, but sometimes the worldly messages that enter our brains and control our hearts are not always pure and true. We become blinded by what society says is right versus what God wants us to do.
Today's reading from Matthew finds the disciples asking Jesus about the rules of marriage and divorce. It was pointed out that even Moses would allow divorce because life was just too hard. But Jesus later points out that if we are true to our calling and to one another, that we should accept the vocation put before us, be it marriage, the single life or a vocation to the Church. Marriage and divorce are not things to take lightly. Life circumstances impact how we live out these vocations. But we always must be true to what God calls us to, not what society would influence us to do. I wonder what Jesus would say today about the number of divorces, vocations to the priesthood, or same sex marriage. I wonder….
This reading is a difficult one to take in. I suppose my takeaway is to always pray about everything and earnestly turn off the sounds of society and listen to what God really wants ME to do, not what society says I should do.
