SEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

Friday

Year II

Readings

First Reading
Jas 5:9–12

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 103:1–2, 3–4, 8–9, 11–12

Gospel
Mk 10:1–12

Meditation on Today’s Readings

Taken from the Vatican II Sunday and Weekday Missal
Written by Celia Sirois

Divorce was as live an issue in Jesus’ day as it is in ours. Mark’s account preserves the earliest memory of Jesus’ teaching on this painful human dilemma. The question is put to him as a test: Is divorce legal? Jesus answers with a question of his own: “What did Moses command you?” It is important to note how vague Moses’ teaching is on this point. No law in the written Torah—the first five books of the Hebrew Scriptures—clearly states the grounds for divorce. Deuteronomy 24, however, does assume the practice of divorce, and on that basis the opponents of Jesus respond that Moses permitted it. Jesus’ teaching is also based on Torah. Turning to Genesis, he declares that God intended “from the beginning of creation” that marriage be indissoluble.

The teaching of Jesus is as important for what it says about marriage as for what it says about divorce. Clearly he honors the union of two people whose “yes” means “yes,” as James might put it. And surely all that Sirach says of the “faithful friend” is true of the faithful spouse as well.

The copyright for the Sunday Missal Introductions is:
Copyright (c) 2001, Daughters of St. Paul
The copyright for the Weekday Missal Introduction is:
Copyright (c) 2002, Daughters of St. Paul