Dear Parishioners,

In our Gospel for this week, Jesus voiced His profound concern for stable family life. How is it that Jesus, who seemed to trouble the Pharisees by breaking many laws that they followed, took the hard line when asked about divorce? In ancient societies, without the protection of the laws against divorce, women and children were totally at the mercy of their husbands and fathers. In criticizing those who advocated easy divorce, Jesus put Himself on the side of the weak and the vulnerable.

Jesus justified his tough position against divorce by an appeal to the creation in Genesis: God is on the side of unity, community, and togetherness. "What God has joined together, no human being must separate." Our world would be a heartless, unstable, and chaotic place without the stability of people who show enduring commitment to one another.

Most people agree that modern Americans are living in a society permeated with divorce. For the past decade, the overall American divorce rate has remained stable, at around 50% for first marriages. The statistics are become more depressing for each successive marriage, with 65% of second marriages ending in divorce and even higher rates for third marriages and beyond.

Jesus reminds us, "From the beginning it was not this way." Jesus puts God's plan clearly before us. It is that man and woman will be willing and able to commit themselves to one another for life. It is a plan that is worthy of our highest human calling. Those married couple who pray together stay together. As someone said, marriage is like a zipper. There are two rows of teeth on a zipper. These teeth fit into one another very neatly. But you need the little zip to draw the teeth together and lock them. The husband and wife need God like a zip to keep themselves together. Many homes are low in stamina and fainting because they do not use the spiritual resource which is God. A home needs God's grace and an absence of God is the corrosion of life. Union with God on a daily basis helps the couple to overcome differences and difficulties. It guides the way towards steady maturity in love. It nurtures the marriage with a consciousness of its sacred destiny and it supports the companionship to ripen in advanced years.

O Gentle God, we come to you, give our lives all to you, every detail, every barb and every frustration. Take the scream of anger from the wheels of our passions, that the power of your grace may smooth the way we love. Help us to think before we speak and to be quiet, when we feel that we are going to blaze out. You alone can refresh our spirits and wash our wounds, for you are a river of hope in the desert of despair. By your grace, may our hurts be healed and forgiven. As the beautiful rose rises from amongst its thorns, so may our love for each other rise above the storms.

May God bless us all.

Father Lawrence