August 17, 2018 Friday, 19th Week in
Ordinary Time
1st Reading: Ezk 16:1-15, 60, 63
Gospel: Mt 19:3–12
Some Pharisees approached Jesus. They wanted to test him and asked, “Is a man allowed to divorce his wife for any reason he wants?”Jesus replied, “Have you not read that in the beginning the Creator made them male and female, and he said: Man has now to leave father and mother, and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one body? So they are no longer two but one body; let no one separate what God has joined.”They asked him, “Then, why did Moses command us to write a bill of dismissal in order to divorce?” Jesus replied, “Moses knew your stubborn heart, so he allowed you to divorce your wives, but it was not so in the beginning. Therefore I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, unless it be for concubinage, and marries another, commits adultery.”The disciples said, “If that is the condition of a married man, it is better not to marry.” Jesus said to them, “Not everybody can accept what you have just said, but only those who have received this gift. Some are born incapable of marriage. Some have been made that way by others. But there are some who have given up the possibility of marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who can accept it, accept it.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
A man and a pregnant woman agreed to get married. But it was not for love of one another. Their purpose was only to make the baby in the womb of the woman legitimate. Unfortunately, the woman had a miscarriage a few months after their wedding. With the child dead they decided to apply for the declaration of nullity of their marriage. The court denied their petition on the ground that marriage, once validly contracted, couldn’t be rendered void ab initio. The contrary would subject marriage to the private agreements of the parties. The Family Code declares marriage as not subject to stipulation except in the case of marriage settlement that fixes the property relations. Marriage cannot be made valid just for the child but invalid as to the contracting parties.
There are many other cases reflecting the State’s bias towards the validity of marriage. The reason for this bias is the State’s consideration of marriage as “an inviolable social institution, the foundation of the family” (Sec. 2, Art. 15, 1987 Constitution). Now, if the State is determined to protect marriage because it is the foundation of family, all the more reason we Christians protect it because it is the seedbed of life, and a mirror of the relationship between Christ and his Church. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., D.M. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com.
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