27^th Sunday in O.T. (B); October 7, 2018

Gn 2:18-24   Ps 128   Heb 2:9-11   Mk 10:2-16

Deacon Jim McFadden

 

During the ‘60s, the rock group Three Dog Night, had a pop-hit, One is the Loneliest Number, that addresses the pain associated with isolation. That’s why solitary confinement in maximum security prisons is so soul-deadening because it separates inmates from human contact and fellowship.

We heard this in the first reading that Adam was living in the Garden of Eden by himself. Sure, he was given permission by God to name all of the other creatures as a sign of his dominion. Nonetheless, something was lacking: he felt alone, because “there was not found a helper fit for him” (Gen 2:20).

This drama of solitude is experienced by countless men and women today. Think of the elderly who are warehoused, oftentimes abandoned by their loved ones and children; widows and widowers who no longer enjoy their spouse’s physical presence; men and women who have been abandoned by their spouses; refugees whose lives have been torn apart by war, famine, and gang persecution; young people who get trapped by the seductions of the culture of consumerism in which the consumer becomes consumed by his own consumption; the isolation brought about by waste in our throw-away culture.

Today, we experience the paradox of a globalized culture which has generated tremendous wealth, but is often concentrated in the few of the few. We see luxurious McMansions and towering skyscrapers that are testimonies to man making a name for himself. At the same time the warmth of families, community involvement are eroded as people retreat into their tribal enclaves.

Then we have a cornucopia of entertainment options from cable TV, the internet, electronic games; at the same time, we sense a growing interior emptiness, which we self-medicate to sooth our anxiety. We have many pleasures, but few loves; we have many liberties—we can choose to do what we want and when we want—but so little freedom. The number of people who are feeling lonely in our society is staggering, as so many people are caught up in selfishness, gloominess, destructive violence, and slavery to pleasure and money that alienates us from God and each other.

Our situation today, is in some respects, like that of Adam: so much power—he can name all the animals!—but at the same time so much loneliness and vulnerability. Isn’t it strange that the most advanced, powerful societies with their gargantuan GDP and bristling military systems, are also the ones that have the lowest birth-rates and have the highest percentage of abortions, divorce, suicide, and social and environmental pollution?

In the first reading we also hear that God was pained by Adam’s loneliness. He said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” (Gen 2:18). These simple words show that nothing makes a man’s heart happy as to be joined to another’s heart like his own. A heart who loves him unconditionally and tenderly and takes away his sense of being alone. These words show that God did not make us to live in gloom, sorrow, and anxiety. He did not create us to be alone.   He made men and women for happiness, to share their story and their journey with one another until death do them part.   Man cannot make himself happy. Woman cannot make herself happy. But, sharing their journey with someone who compliments them, to live the awesome experience of love and to be loved, and to see their love bear fruit in children which we heard in Psalm 128.

This is God’s dream for his beloved creation: just as God is three persons sharing one divine nature, just as the Risen Christ is united to His Church, his mystical Body, so, too, is creation fulfilled in the loving union between a man and a woman, rejoicing in their shared journey, fruitful in their mutual self-giving.

This is the same plan which Jesus presents in today’s Gospel: “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” (Mk 10:6-8; cf Gen 1:27; 2:24).

People of God, this is the basis of the Sacrament of Marriage, which is a divine mandate and not a historical or cultural construct, no matter what a legislative or judicial institution says.

And, to the rhetorical question that was posed as a trap to make Jesus unpopular, our Lord responds in a straightforward fashion.   He brings it back to the beginning, to the beginning of Creation to teach us that God blesses human love, that it is God who joins the hearts of a man and a woman who love one another. He joins them in indissolubility just as He is united with His Church. This shows us that the goal of conjugal life is not simply to live together for life, but to love one another for life! In this way Jesus re-establishes the order that was present from the beginning. And, we become rightly ordered when we live according to the Father’s will. Amen.