We can take this simple little passage as Jesus teaching on divorce, or we can look deeply at what to find what more Jesus is saying here. If we do the latter and we do it well, we will see things differently.
I often tell you that our faith is not a system of morality, it is far deeper than that. The Bible over and over again cites what it is that we pursue and that is wisdom. So we seek to be people who pursue and live by a profound divine wisdom. However, there is another aspect to consider, and that is if we do not seek to live by divine wisdom, what wisdom will we pursue?
If you watched the commercial television coverage of the Papal visit, you saw advertising for an atheist group calling people to live strictly by reason. Then, the same group puts on its website that this means to support abortion, same sex marriage, etc. Well obviously a good question might be what is the reason for supporting any of these things? Here is why I say this.
When we are talking about wisdom, we are talking about the very definition of who we are as human beings, where we are going and what we are all about. Our morality is based on making choices that reflect those same realities. We seek a wisdom that is divinely rooted so that our wisdom informs us on who we truly are, what we are all about and what is our destiny. When we instead choose to reject all that and accept human reason, we have to ask “what is the particular root of that particular human reason?”
If I listen to an atheist at a local university teach me that God does not exist and I must live by reason, my immediate question must be what is his or her definition of the human person? What is the meaning of our existence? I cannot reason well on how to live my life if I do not have an understanding of those questions. If he tells me that my life has no more meaning than the fact it is, as many atheists do, then the real question is not what is the meaning of my existence, it is what is the meaning of yours. If your existence interferes with my existence, the result is called conflict.
Let me give you a basic example: This group calling for us to live only by reason, is calling for the elimination of military chaplains. Their point is: Separation of church and state: However, notice this group does not ask the more obvious question, if humanity can live by reason, why do we need a military? What is the reason for a military? Can’t we all just get along? We as believers know that we cannot because of what we call original sin. We have an answer to that question. There are many things within any human being that without divine wisdom makes him or her unable to live peaceably enough with others to be able to live the perfect world.
The wisdom that I seek says that we have a flaw as human beings: We have passions that drive us to exalt ourselves over others, if they are not in check. So that wisdom reminds us daily that we have the potential to make peace or war depending on our own daily choices. So, why don’t we use reason to eliminate war altogether? Clearly that is a laudable goal, but if we do not understand the deeper wisdom then we, as history has shown, will not be capable of building peace.
So, clearly as a Catholic I would respond that yes we have to live by reason, but by whose reason and what is the root of that reason. Am I going to root my life on the teaching of some Ph.D who believes that life has no meaning and am I going to use that form of reason to decide how to act every day? If I accept that, then the meaning of my life becomes subjective. My reason for existence is far more important than yours. Why, because it is my reason for existence and you stand in the way of my reason for my existence. Isn’t that what the marketing of fetal tissue issue is all about? My reason for my existence trumps your right to be born and not be used as a scientific experiment.
However, if I do not understand this, then I will see nothing wrong with preventing someone from being born and then using their tissue in medical experiments to help another person live because his or her reason for existence supersedes that of the other now experimented on former unborn child.
If you expand that, you can see a huge system of haves versus have nots of owners versus slaves and of the powerful versus the oppressed. However, if we say, we seek this greater wisdom that is beyond me, then we seek to do what is best for all and try to improve on it.
Why do people sell drugs? The reason for the existence of the seller is in his or her mind greater than the reason for the existence of the buyer. So he or she exploits the buyer to fund his or her own existence.
However, Jesus speaks to us from a deeper wisdom. So he explains marriage not as a set of rules, but as a definition of who we are in light of divine wisdom. We are male and female, where the two become one. That is what marriage is and its very definition begins there. Anything less than that is a form of human wisdom but it is not divine wisdom.
That is why the Catholic teaching on marriage varies from the world. That is why we don’t support divorce and remarriage, gay marriage and everything else. We focus on a divine reason that not only teaches us how to live but who we are. We are called not to live, therefore, simply by rules, but the whys of those rules and is the what we call divine reason.
It obviously extends beyond marriage. However, as you go out into the world and people ask why the Catholic Church does not support gay marriage or divorce and remarriage you can say simply that our understanding of who we are as human beings is at a far more profound level than what is being taught by an atheist culture and that is why we believe differently than others.
God bless you,
Fr. Robert J Carr
Fr. Carr is an alliance member of the New Song Community (Canção Nova). He is the pastor of Holy Trinity Quincy, MA and is the editor of this blog. He is the author of several books, blogs and hundreds of videos all of which you may find on Youtube. He also has a regular radio program on WebRadio Canção Nova. Which he podcasts on Podomatic and here on Catholicismanew. You can follow him on twitter as @frbobcarr and on Google plus as +FrRobertCarr. Thoughts, comments on the homily? Let us know at Facebook