St. Stephen of Hungary 

＊＊＊1st Reading＊＊＊

Joshua 24: 1-13*

(……)Addressing the people, Joshua said to them:

“Yahweh, the God of Israel, commands me to say to you: your ancestors lived beyond the Euphrates River – Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor – serving other gds. But I vrought Abraham your father from beyond the Euphrates and led him through he whole land of Canaan. Then I gave him a son Isaac, that he might have numerous descendants.(….)

Then I sent Moses and Aaron to punish Egypt in the way that you know, that you might leave. Then I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and you came to the sea. The Egyptians pursued you with chariots and horses as far as the Red Sea. Then you cried to Yahweh, and he put immense darkness between you and the Egyptians. He made the sea go back on them and they were drowned. You have witnessed all the things he did in Egypt, and then you lived in the desert for a long time.(…..)

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊

Matthew 19: 3-12

Some Pharisees approached him. They wanted to test him and asked, “Is a man allowed to divorce his wife for any reason he wants?”

Jesus replied, “Have you not read, that, in the beginning, the Creator made them male and female? And the Creator said: therefore, a man shall leave father and mother, and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one body. So, they are no longer two, but one body. Let no one separate what God has joined.”

They asked him, “Then why did Moses command us to write a bill of dismissal in order to divorce?” Jesus replied, “Moses knew the hardness of your hearts, so he allowed you to divorce your wives; but it was not so in the beginning. Therefore, I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, unless it be for immorality, and marries another, vomits adultery.”

The disciples said, “ If that is the condition of a married man, it is better not to marry.” Jesus said to them, “Not everybody can accept what you have just said, but only those who have received this gift. There are eunuchs born so, from their mother’s womb. Some have been made that way by others. But there are some who have given up the possibility of marriage, for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who can accept it, accept it.”

 

 Reflection gospel：

“THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE BODY.”

There are two essential elements of life-long faithfulness in marriage, without which marriage is an impossibility, without which marriage cannot endure, namely: the offering of one’s self and sacrifice. They are both an expression and assurance of the love of a woman and a man for each other. The love that reigns in their marital relationship is always ready to give and to sacrifice. Minus this self-giving and sacrificial love, marriage collapses.

Was it not through offering/giving and sacrifice that God’s saving plan in Jesus proceeded? Jesus, as an embodiment of the love of God, taught and showed us how this giving and sacrifice, in concrete form, might be imitated. Form his ministry of giving and sacrifice, we know how he impacted the lives of people he had come across with, and what he won for us. that is why in married life we have an idea how giving and sacrifice might affect the relationship of a couple.

It is said: “Life-long faithfulness in marriage is a sign and manifestation of the kingdom”(Brendan Byrne). That is only so when marriage is marked, among other things, by self-offering and self-sacrifice.