THE WORD
Jas 5,9-12 / Mk 10,1-12
Jesus set out from there and went into the district of Judea across the Jordan. Again crowds gathered around him and, as was his custom, he again taught them. The Pharisees approached and asked, “Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?” They were testing him. He said to them in reply, “What did Moses command you?” They replied, “Moses permitted him to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her.”
But Jesus told them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment. But 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. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate.”
In the house the disciples again questioned him about this. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
IN OTHER WORDS
There are songs in my mind and in my heart, heard over the radio, remembered through the years. Love songs. Old tunes. Happy notes. Sad lines. Hopeful wishes. Tearful goodbyes. They make me smile or cry. I feel the warmth of some, note the hypocrisy of others. I sense the joy, know the pain. “I can’t help falling in love with you…” “When I fall in love…” “How can I live without regret, am I that easy to forget…” “Little things mean a lot..” “What a diff erence a day makes..” “Why don’t you believe me?” “We used to laugh, we used to cry… I need you..”If love is not forever, what isforever for? ” And pictures arise. Battered women. Henpecked husbands. Crying babies. Lost, lonely children.
Broken homes. Vows proudly declared but not honored. Wedding promises of YES, lifetime series of NOs. I love you’s frequently said but as often forgotten and not lived. All these mixed with family scenes of lollipops and roses, ice cream and cookies, rainbows and days in the beach, Christmas, New Year, birthday parties and celebrations. The whole gamut of human life and love. Can’t we stay together – for the sake of the children? Why can’t we part as our love has died?
What to do, Lord? Please help all who today are reading, listening to, reflecting on your words.
Give each the strength to carry on, to say “I am sorry, please forgive me. Take me back”. Help each to forgive, never to break a wedding promise, to live up to the promised love, to understand that the forever one declared at one’s wedding is really lived from moment to moment, from day to day --- not always easily, but consistently, faithfully. Be the comfort one needs in terrible moments of loneliness caused by the betrayal of love, by unfaithfulness, by deceit.
Above our pain, through our broken hearts, lives and dreams, please help us learn to hope again, laugh and live again. Teach us not to fear to love even a second time around. Perhaps for just a day. But hopefully, for yet another. And maybe, more? Amen.
- Fr. Roderick C. Salazar | CKMS, Quezon City
The Word in other words 2016
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
