[ Today's Readings ]
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.
Jesus empowers us to move beyond the limitations of our hardened hearts. He brings us back to the good things he has planned for us from the beginning.
Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were a girl,
and I will set up an everlasting covenant with you,
He doesn't do this because we deserve it. He didn't favor us then because we deserved it.
Again I passed by you and saw that you were now old enough for love.
So I spread the corner of my cloak over you to cover your nakedness;
I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you;
you became mine, says the Lord GOD.
Then I bathed you with water, washed away your blood,
and anointed you with oil.
He finds us naked and clothes us in baptism garments, washing away our sins with water. He anoints us with the Holy Spirit. These gifts are so great that we should "be covered with confusion" for that the LORD has done for us.
He saves us from the trap of focusing on ourselves.
But you were captivated by your own beauty,
you used your renown to make yourself a harlot,
and you lavished your harlotry on every passer-by,
whose own you became.
He makes us capable of lasting love for others in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, even unto death.
His disciples said to him,
“If that is the case of a man with his wife,
it is better not to marry.”
This shows us that marriage is a calling. We don't have the strength to undertake it on our own. We should not, therefore, choose it on our own. God leads us to the calling he has for us. He equips us and gives us grace for that calling. Some he calls to marriage. Others are called to be celibate for the kingdom.
some, because they have renounced marriage
for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven.
In many ways our society hears this and believes this is the impossibility. But "to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (see First Corinthians 1: 24). Suddenly what seems foolish to the world is the only thing that makes sense.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (see Ephesians 2:10).
Let us trust in the LORD's plans for us today.
God indeed is my savior;
I am confident and unafraid.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
With joy you will draw water
at the fountain of salvation.
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