27^th Sunday in O.T. (B); 10-03-2021

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.  We heard this in the first reading that Adam was living in the Garden by himself.  Sure, he was given permission by God to name all 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” (Gn 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 uprooted by war, famine, and gang persecution; young people who get trapped in their virtual on-line realities cut off from genuine human relationships.  So, 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. 

            Getting back to our first reading, we hear that God was pained by Adam’s loneliness.  He said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” (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 makes us to live in isolation, which inevitably fosters gloom, sorrow, and anxiety.  He did not create us to be alone.  He made men and women for happiness, to share their story and journey with another until death do them part.  Man cannot make himself happy.  Woman cannot make herself happy. But, sharing their journey with someone 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 forever 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 Gn 1:27, 2:24).  And, he concludes, “What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder” (Mk 10:9). 

            This last line is important because in the Creator’s original plan, there is no do-over.  It is not that a man marries a woman and, if things don’t go well, he repudiates her and moves onto Plan B.  No, rather, the man and woman are called to recognize each other, to complete each other, to help each other to realize their purpose and destiny.

            This teaching of Jesus, grounded in the opening chapters of Genesis, is the basis of the Sacrament of Marriage, which is a divine mandate as revealed in Scripture and through the very words of the Son of God.  Contrary to contemporary whims, it is not an historical or cultural construct no matter what a legislative or judicial institution says.

            The teaching of Jesus is very clear and defends the dignity of marriage as a union of love between a man and a woman, which is constitutive.  Anything other than this is simply not marriage.  Moreover, the union of a man and woman implies fidelity.  What allows the spouses to remain united in marriage is a love of mutual self-giving infused by Christ’s grace.  But, the nurturing of this union takes hard work: if the spouses pursue their private interests, the promotion of one’s egoic satisfaction, then the union cannot endure.

            The Gospel passage realistically takes this into account.  Either spouse or both may behave in such a way that places their union in crisis.  That’s why Jesus 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 woman who love one another.  He joins them in indissolubility just as he is united with his Church.  That is why the Church does not tire of confirming the beauty of family as it was consigned to us by Scripture and by Tradition.  At the same time, she strives to make her maternal closeness tangible and comforting to those who are experiencing relationships that are broken or continue to be difficult and painful.

            God’s way of acting with his broken and often unfaithful people, teaches us that wounded love can be healed by God through mercy and forgiveness.  For this reason, the Church does not lead with censure or condemnation.  On the contrary, before so many marital failures (50% of Catholic marriages end in divorce), Holy Mother the Church is called to show love, charity, and mercy, in order to heal wounded and lost hearts to get them back to God’s embrace.

            Let us remember that we have a great ally in the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of the Church, who helps married couples to live together authentically and renew their union, beginning with God’s original gift.  Amen.