So they are no longer two, but one flesh

16 AUGUST (Mt 19,3-12)

In the mind of God in human nature there is first a unity and then a duality, which is a real difference, diversity; however, this is always in function of the unity to be created. However, the unity that comes from the duality of male and female is not superficial, accidental, ephemeral and fleeting. It is the unity of merging of the two fleshes in one.

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).

In the second story the singularity is seen as a function of the unity. The woman gives completeness of nature to man. She makes him a real man, in all similar to God. Without the woman, man is not like God and in his image. He cannot give life. The ontological sterility not the physical one, for reasons of nature; but the one chosen for reasons and motivations of will, sin, selfishness, stupidity, ignorance and of loss of the light of intelligence; is darkening the image and likeness of God in man. It is as if man claimed to not want to be a man any more. This decision is beyond the very first sin. There, man wanted to be like God. But here, in this ontological sterility, out of a choice of his own will, ma chooses not to be a man any more.

The Lord God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and so man became a living being. 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 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 (Cf. Gen 2,4-23).

Jesus came to give every man his true humanity. And never might there be a true humanity, if the unity of the being man and woman is not recomposed. This must be ontological, physical, spiritual, of one heart, of one flesh, irreversible and indestructible.

Some Pharisees approached him, and tested him, saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?” He said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’ and said, ‘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.” They said to him, “Then why did Moses command that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss (her)?” He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.” [His] disciples said to him, “If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” He answered, “Not all can accept [this] word, but only those to whom that is granted. Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”

The Pharisee of yesterday and today must be convinced that there is no genuine and authentic redemption until man will not return to being a real man. The truth of man is the woman. The truth of the woman is man. Man makes the woman in the image of God. The woman makes a man in the image of the Lord. Where the image is destroyed it is man the one who is destroyed.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints give us true salvation.