Homily For Friday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 24th May 2024

 

Readings: James 5: 9-12; Ps. 103; Mark: 10:1-12

Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

 

UNDERSTANDING GOD’S FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES ABOUT MARRIAGE AND FAMILY LIFE

 

The fragile nature of our society today has placed in the minds of the youths a distorted image of what marriage and family life entail and truly represent in society. This is because many young people today find themselves in a condition of radical instability and look for people to help them answer the fundamental questions of life. Today there are different notions and understandings of marriage especially among the youths.

 

Marriage is seen as a business in which anybody can engage or disengage at any time. Marriage among the youths of today is a thing of choice and contract which is suitable only when it serves their personal interest. Commitment, sacrifice and partnerships of whole life are far from their understanding of what marriage truly represents. The fact remains that Marriage is the basis of every human family and indeed the basic cell of every human community.

 

Little wonder in our Gospel passage today when the Pharisees engaged Jesus on the notion of divorce in marriage and its controversy. Jesus referred them to the fundamental principle of marriage when he said: It was because you were so unteachable that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but it was not like this from the beginning. Because from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. This is why a man must leave his father and mother, and the two become one body. They are no longer two, therefore, but one body. So then, what God has united, man must not divide.

 

Here Jesus emphasized the real intention of God about marriage. He ruled out divorce by placing men and women on the same level; no longer could a man opt to divorce his wife. But, today there are lots of problems in families due to a lack of understanding of what marriage truly means. It is quite interesting to realize that social, economic and political factors were major determinants that shape the youth's present understanding of marriage, as we see the youths giving importance to changing trends in marriage such as single parent, inter-caste marriage, living in relationship or cohabitation, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender marriages, etc. Hence, marriage for them is more of a social phenomenon than spiritual union and physical companionship.

 

Dear friends, today we are called to embrace the will of God and his teaching concerning marriage and family life. We should not let the trending ideas of disordered personalities in our society mislead us. Rather, we should value and respect the Sanctity of marriage knowing that marriage is not just a contract but more of a covenant sealed with an oath that must not be broken. Hence St James in our first reading today said: do not swear by heaven or by the earth, or use any oaths at all. If you mean ‘yes’, you must say ‘yes’; if you mean ‘no’, say ‘no.’ Otherwise, you make yourselves liable to judgment.

 

LET US PRAY: Lord God, we have always failed to listen and follow your teaching, as a result, there are lots of problems in our families due to a lack of understanding of what marriage truly means. As we listen to your teaching today, help us to value our vocation whether marriage or celibate life and to constantly struggle to fix the problems in our families, we ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. God bless you.