Homily for Friday of the 7th Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle C
Friday, February 28, 2025
Prince of Peace Catholic Church – 8:00 Mass
Sirach 6:5-17; Psalm 119:12, 16, 18, 27, 34, 35; Mark 10:1-12
Audio Recording
In our Gospel today, Jesus defines the fundamental sacredness of marriage. When I was doing marriage prep in Knoxville, I would ask young couples, “Why do you want to get married in church?” Most would say something like, “Because we love each other.” Others might say, “Because our parents want us to.” And my reply would be, “Well, those aren’t good reasons to get married in church.” Usually, they looked stunned, but it’s true.
I would teach them that a couple comes to church to be married before God and his people when they are convinced that their marriage is not, ultimately, about them. It’s about God and about serving God’s purposes. That it is, as much as the priesthood of a priest, a vocation, a sacred calling.
Because of its sacred nature, this vocation is understood by the Church as so much more than a legal arrangement. Today’s gospel reading provides the scriptural basis for our Catholic teaching on marriage. In it, Jesus is crystal clear about three things related to marriage:
- Marriage is permanent
- Marriage is exclusively between a man and a woman
- Remarriage after divorce results in the grave sin of adultery
The vocation of marriage is protected by a sacred covenant between the husband and wife, witnessed by God himself. A covenant is an UNCONDITIONAL agreement made by the couple to remain together for a lifetime in the service of God. A covenant is different from a legal contract. The vocation of marriage is entered into by a man and a woman. It is not possible for two men or two women to enter into sacred matrimony.
The understanding of marriage in the secular culture is different, isn’t it? Civil marriage is essentially a contract between two PEOPLE, not a covenant between a man and a woman exclusively.
A contract is a CONDITIONAL agreement broken by either party if the other party doesn’t keep his or her terms of the agreement. For example, If I no longer love you, or if you are no longer meeting MY needs, I can divorce you.
In the marriage covenant witnessed by God, the couple vows their faithfulness to one another, regardless of the circumstances they experience after the wedding ceremony. They each make vows to remain with each other for their lifetime. It is this mutual, free consent of vows which is the basis for their covenantal relationship.
And if the couple divorces and remarries, they are considered to be in a state of adultery. Jesus clearly teaches us this today. While they may be civilly divorced, in the eyes of God they continue to be obligated to the covenant they made with their first spouse.
Therefore, marriage is considered to be a permanent state UNLESS there was something going on AT THE TIME OF THE MARRIAGE that caused the CONSENT of one or both of the spouses to be invalid. What is commonly known as the annulment process is the process the Church has put into place to examine that consent and then rule on its validity.
If their consent is found to be defective for some reason, and there are many reasons it might be, the marriage is annulled and both spouses are free to remarry. And, of course, widows and widowers are always free to remarry.
Now I know that there are many Catholics who have divorced and remarried and have not gone through the process of petitioning for an annulment. Many have left the Church and may be worshipping in another faith community or not going to church at all.
Others continue to attend Mass and receive communion, which is yet another grave matter. While the Church will always welcome everyone to attend Mass, one must be in a state of grace to receive Holy Communion.
It’s also important to know that a divorced person who does not remarry can be in full communion with the Church. He or she living as a single person is free to receive communion under the ordinary guidelines of the Church. Many single divorced persons have been wrongfully excluded from full participation in the life of the Church, which is very sad.
So what about people who have divorced and remarried outside the Church and wish to be in communion with the Church until such time as the annulment process is completed? Well, if they CONFESS THEIR SIN and resolve to avoid intimate relations with their spouse, they are able to participate fully in the life of the Church. In other words, they must live together like a brother and sister until such time as they are able to have their marriage convalidated in the Church. By doing so, they are able to receive communion and fully participate in the life of the Church.
If I’ve peaked your interest in the annulment process by scratching the surface on the issue of divorce and remarriage, please get in touch with me through the office to set up a meeting. Or if you have a friend who may have left the Church after divorce, I would love to meet with them to help them better understand their options. I’m truly here to help.
God bless you.