What God has joined together, let no man separate: Commentary by Fr. Jorge Miró

Fr. Jorge Miró shares with Exaudi readers his commentary on the Gospel of this Sunday, October 6, 2024, entitled “What God has joined together, let no man separate”

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The Word of God that we proclaim today comes to illuminate the reality of marriage and family, which are not a human invention, the fruit of particular cultural and historical situations, something that man can do and undo at will, but rather they respond to God’s plan. This is what Jesus tells us: from the beginning of creation, God created them male and female. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh… what God has joined together, let no man separate.

It is not good for man to be alone. This is one of the first words that God speaks after Creation. We are not created for solitude but for relationship, communion, and forgiving.

In God’s plan, man and woman are called to be an adequate help to one another, to welcome God’s free love, to allow themselves to be transformed by that Love that changes life.

Pope Francis says that “founded on this love, man and woman can promise mutual love with a gesture that commits their whole life and that recalls many features of faith. Promising a love forever is possible when we discover a plan that goes beyond our own plans, that sustains us and allows us to give our entire future to the person we love. Faith, moreover, helps us to grasp the full depth and richness of the generation of children, because it makes us recognize in it the creative love that gives us and entrusts to us the mystery of a new person” (cf. Lumen Fidei 53).

In the midst of the great crisis that marriage is going through today, Christians cannot give up proposing marriage according to God’s plan (cf. Amoris Laetitia 35).

We are called to bear witness to the beauty of marriage and of the family that Jesus Christ presents to us. With families that want to live each day with Jesus Christ at the center, welcoming the love of God and allowing the Holy Spirit to renew love every day.

Families in love with Jesus Christ who believe in the power of his Spirit and allow themselves to be transformed by Him.

The Lord also invites us to have a look of charity and mercy in the face of so many broken marriages. “There are cases where separation is inevitable. At times, it can even become morally necessary, precisely when it is a matter of protecting the weaker spouse, or the young children, from the most serious wounds caused by arrogance and violence, discouragement and exploitation, alienation and indifference” (cf. Amoris Laetitia 241).

We must not judge or condemn people, but rather accompany them in their suffering, help them discern the will of God, heal their wounds instead of widening them, and by realizing the truth in charity, help them grow in faith and live it in the Church (cf. Amoris Laetitia 243).

Come Holy Spirit! Renew our families!