Mark 10, 2-16:
Sunday, 3rd October 2021 (27th T O B)
In the face of the difficulties presented to Jesus, this Sunday’s Gospel tells us his position on marriage, which admits of no doubt: “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder”.
Many Catholics are not clear about the criteria for dealing with the problems that can arise in married life and which can lead to a break-up. In the doctrine of the Church there are only two possibilities.
Separation: each one goes his or her own way, but the bond remains, they are still married.
Annulment or nullity: there are causes from before the wedding that prevented the sacrament from taking place, which made it null and void (there was no marriage even if they celebrated the wedding).
Faced with the questions raised by some and the arguments they put forward, Pope Francis has not changed the doctrine. He has only asked that the processes be speeded up and that they not be financially burdensome. That the causes be analysed (immaturity, lack of faith, ignorance, internal or external forces…) for a rapid determination of nullity or non nullity. Sometimes one meets couples who try to find “the slightest hint” to obtain nullity, but the Church, through the defenders of the bond, will also look for “the slightest hint” so that the bond may remain.
The sacrament of marriage is a sign of God’s love for his Church, love to the cross. If this love cannot fail, neither can the sacrament, which is a sign of the same love. Lack of commitment, immaturity, a lack of capacity for suffering or increasing social permissiveness (hardness of heart), mean that some marriages seem to come with an expiry date and try to justify what it is not.
What God has joined together, let no man put asunder. Divorce has no place in the mind of Jesus. Only in civil legislation.
Juan Ramón Gómez Pascual, cmf
