Unless the marriage is unlawful

13 JUNE (Mt 5,27-32)

Source of all the evil that is in man is the thought. Every trouble, every tragedy, every war, every murder and every theft is its fruit. Every adultery, false witness, slander, every murmur and every judgment is generated by thought. Thought is the perennial object of dispute. Satan uses it to conquer a man to evil. Satan does not need wars, swords, spears, bombs and invisible aircraft to conquer a nation. He needs to conquer the thought of a man that in turn conquers the thoughts of other men.

His game is subtle. He presents a thought of huge and moral disorder for the whole of humanity as an absolute and vital truth. He starts from far away. He create a protester. He invents the ideologue. He arouses the conqueror of squares. He indoctrinates the journalist and commentator. He instructs the talk show conductor. He seduces the novelist. He conquers the great economist. He tames the great political scientist. He creeps into the hearts and minds of Popes, Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, Deacons, Religious men and every other Christian. Where there is a source of power of truth he conquers, seduces, attracts it to his thought. He also leads the lonely person to ruin through a single thought.

Whoever has experience of his malicious and devious methods, knows that he can convince that non-existent exists and the existent does not exist. He makes you think your are sick while you are healthy and makes you believe you are healthy while you are sick. He makes you consider you are holy while you are a great sinner and he tortures you making you believe that you are a great sinner while you are in the innocence and truth of the Lord. This is his art with which undisturbed h rules the world. He makes you believe that a way is of well being, while it does nothing but cause untold misery and poverty. Satan is the real ruler of this world. He is the true lord of history. He is the master of many hearts and endless minds.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna. “It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce.’ But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. 

Jesus asks his disciples to keep watch on thoughts. The root of all evil is in them. Before reaching the consummation of an adultery, incest and rape, there is a thought that turns into desire. What does Satan do? He creeps into the thought and turns it into desire. Once this transformation has taken place, there is no longer escape for a man. He falls miserably into evil. He is delivered to sin. Once the evil has crept into his heart, he rushes from evil to evil, from a smaller to a greater evil, until reaching the point of no return.

Jesus wants evil to be stopped even before it can arise in a heart and a mind. Not only does this divine law apply to us, for the salvation of our souls. It applies much more for others. We need to be especially mindful not to scandalize our younger brothers, but also not to let the evil of others scandalize us. For this not to happen we need a strict custody of our senses. Touch, smell , taste, sight, hearing must be guarded. You cannot let them run free. It is our death, but also the death of many other brothers. One scandal can branch into many minds and put down roots firmly planted in the heart. Vigilance is never enough. It is always short. Today in particular, there is no possibility of getting protected from the sin of scandal. It is universalized. It is present in every corner of the earth. No man is immune anymore.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints save us from any scandal.