October 3, 2021 - Sunday, 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Year B
Gn 2:18-24
Ps 128
Heb 2:9-11
Mk 10:2-16
Through the readings of this first Sunday of October, we can pass through a synthesis of the whole history of salvation, be amazed by the beauty of the original design conceived by God, experience the drama of its failure continuing throughout the centuries even today, and also understand where and in whom we find our salvation.
The first reading, taken from the book of Genesis, takes us back to the Garden of Eden, where:
The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the air, and all 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 flesh.
The happy astonishment and ecstatic cry of Adam in front of Eve, often commented on by the Fathers of the Church, testifies to the beauty of diversity joined together in unity through love. Man and woman, in their difference and in the unity that their loving, fruitful relationship creates, are the created image of the invisible and eternal divine reality.
Psalm 128 sings this original beauty:
Blessed are you who fear the Lord, who walk in his ways! For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork; blessed shall you be, and favored. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the recesses of your home; your children like olive plants around your table.
Behold, thus is the man blessed who fears the Lord. The Lord bless you from Zion: may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life. May you see your children's children. Peace be upon Israel!
The fall, however, obscured this wonderful image of the family, united in spousal love, blessed with the gift of their children, made prosperous through tiring, yet satisfying and profitable work. Unfortunately, we know well all the consequences of sin: lust, oppression, division, hatred, sadness, and death.
In the Gospel, the Pharisees, religious men and experts of the Law, with their deceitful and hypocritical questions, manifestly show the separation of the integrity and original harmony of God's plan for man and woman, which has come about in the history of fallen humanity.
The Pharisees approached Jesus 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 a husband 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 Jesus 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.” (Mk 10:2-12).
Jesus’ words, so clear and demanding, are a light of truth illuminating the lie of sin, and they reverberate their condemnatory judgment upon the darkened, confused periods of humanity’s long history. This is particularly relevant today in our narcissistic societies that are so incapable of mutual self-giving and stable relationships that the beauty of the sexual difference no longer gives rise to awe, joy and thanksgiving, but instead to division and oftentimes confusion. Let's read them as words of judgment so we may return, in truth, to who we are, as Jesus has conveyed with such clarity.
In the second reading the author of the letter to the Hebrews contemplates and explains in a few magnificent words the whole mystery of the Incarnation of the Word of God and the possibility of redemption and salvation.
Created by God and made sons and daughters in the Only Begotten Son who, in taking our flesh, suffering and dying for us has become our brother, we may - through faith and despite our misery - be led to glory:
Brothers and sisters:
He “for a little while” was made “lower than the angels,” that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the leader to their salvation perfect through suffering. He who consecrates and those who are being consecrated all have one origin. Therefore, he is not ashamed to call them “brothers.”
The images of returning to recompose the family of God, restoring lost innocence through Baptismal cleansing, and welcoming the kingdom of God as a child are also suggested in the final sentences of today's Gospel:
And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.” Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them. (Mk 10:13-16)
Given that Baptism is the root of the missionary nature of the Church and of every Christian, evangelization carried out by Christian families is of fundamental importance. Parents have the responsibility and the privilege of evangelizing their children, through the daily witness of faith, in every moment of their life: from the simplest everyday choices to the most important and unique situations.
This year marks precisely the twentieth anniversary of the beatification of Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrocchi, the first married couple in the history of the Church to be beatified, by virtue of their ordinary holiness. Their spousal existence was a path of holiness, a journey towards God through their love for their spouse, becoming teachers and witnesses of the faith.
Pope John Paul II, in the homily of the Beatification Mass, on October 21, 2001, World Mission Sunday, said:
The riches of faith and love of the husband and wife Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrocchi, are a living proof of what the Second Vatican Council said about the call of all the faithful to holiness, indicating that spouses should pursue this goal, “propriam viam sequentes”, “following their own way” (Lumen gentium, n. 41). Today the aspiration of the Council is fulfilled with the first beatification of a married couple: their fidelity to the Gospel and their heroic virtues were verified in their life as spouses and parents.
In their life, as in the lives of many other married couples who day after day earnestly fulfil their mission as parents, one can contemplate the sacramental revelation of Christ's love for the Church. Indeed, “fulfilling their conjugal and family role by virtue of this sacrament, spouses are penetrated with the spirit of Christ and their whole life is permeated by faith, hope, and charity; thus they increasingly further their own perfection and their mutual sanctification, and together they render glory to God” (Gaudium et spes, n. 48).
Dear families, today we have distinctive confirmation that the path of holiness lived together as a couple is possible, beautiful, extraordinarily fruitful, and fundamental for the good of the family, the Church and society.
This prompts us to pray the Lord that there be many more married couples who can reveal in the holiness of their lives, the “great mystery” of spousal love, which originates in creation and is fulfilled in the union of Christ with his Church (cf. Eph 5:22-33).
Like every path of holiness, yours too, dear married couples, is not easy. Every day you face difficulties and trials, in order to be faithful to your vocation, to foster harmony between yourselves and between your children, to carry out your mission as parents and participate in social life.
May you be able to find in God's word the answer to the questions which arise in everyday life. […]
Married and family life can also experience moments of bewilderment. We know how many families in these cases are tempted to discouragement. I am particularly referring to those who are going through the sad event of separation; I am thinking of those who must face illness and those who are suffering the premature death of their spouse or of a child. In these situations, one can bear a great witness to fidelity in love, which is purified by having to pass through the crucible of suffering. […]
At the same time, I ask all families to hold up the arms of the Church, so that she may never fail in her mission of interceding, consoling, guiding and encouraging. I thank you, dear families, for the support that you give to me in my service to the Church and to humanity. Every day I beg the Lord to help all the families suffering from poverty and injustice, and to advance the civilization of love.
Dear friends, the Church has confidence in you to confront the challenges that await her in the new millennium. Among the paths of her mission, “the family is the first and the most important” (Letter to Families, n. 2); the Church is counting on it and calling it to be “a true subject of evangelization and the apostolate” (ibid. n. 16).
I am certain that you will be equal to the task that awaits you in every place and on every occasion. Dear husbands and wives, I encourage you to embrace your role and your responsibilities. Renew your missionary zeal, making your homes privileged places for announcing and accepting the Gospel in an atmosphere of prayer and in the concrete exercise of Christian solidarity.
May the Holy Spirit, who filled Mary's heart so that, in the fullness of time, she might conceive the Word of life and welcome him, together with her husband Joseph, support you and confirm you. May he fill your hearts with joy and peace so that every day you may know how to praise the heavenly Father, from whom come every grace and blessing. Amen!