Commits adultery against her

Sir 6,5-17; Ps 118; Mk 10,1-12
1 MARCH

For Jesus, the spousal union between a man and a woman, the only possible spousal union, is that established at the origin of creation by his Father. It is well defined both in the first story of creation and in the second. Once the only flesh has been created, it remains only flesh forever, until death. His Father does not know other ways, other forms and other possibilities. He does not grant rules or privileges. There is no human reason so that it can be destroyed by men. Not even He has power over the creation of his Father. His law is eternal and unchangeable. If Jesus has no power over the Law of the Father, not even the Church has power over the Law of God. Whoever puts himself above the Law of the Lord will assume his responsibility today and on the day of judgment of all the evil he has produced.

Then God said: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground.” God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them, saying: “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth” (Gen 1,26-28).

The Lord God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it. The Lord God gave man this order: “You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and bad. From that tree you shall not eat; the moment you eat from it you are surely doomed to die.” The Lord God said: “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him.” So the Lord God formed out of the ground various wild animals and various birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each of them would be its name. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man. So the Lord God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. The Lord  God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man, the man said: “This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of ‘her man’ this one has been taken.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body (Gen 2,15-24).

The fracture in the only flesh is always the work of man’s sin. When does man no longer recognize the woman as his flesh? After the first sin. The woman, from flesh of his flesh, from bone of his bones, has become the woman whom God has placed beside.

When they heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of the day, the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. The Lord God then called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.” Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!” The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me – she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it” (Gen 3,8-12).

Jesus does not allow equivocations to arise. Who repudiates and remarries commits adultery towards the woman. If the repudiated woman gets married, she too commits adultery.

He set out from there and went into the district of Judea (and) 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.”

Today more than ever, Christians must become aware that the divine law is eternal.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, make us of faith convinced in the truth of the Law of the Lord.