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Jesus asserts His teaching authority in the fifth chapter of
Matthew, part of the Sermon on the Mountain. “You have head that
it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you
that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already
committed adultery with her in his heart.” Jesus knows that he
is raising the bar of sexual values, that He is calling his
audience to move beyond where they are.
Jesus does not simply reflect back, approvingly, what the people
are doing. He decisively wants the people to understand the plan
of God for human love as men and women, and then have them
freely choose to pattern their lives on God’s wonderful plan for
us.
He asks for more than avoiding the act of adultery. He calls for
avoiding the very thought of, the very desire of adultery. What
are we to make of this? In our society adultery is not
considered to be that important. Committed sex is trivialized;
recreational sex is openly promoted. Over half of our marriages
end in divorce. Cohabitation before marriage is more the rule,
rather than the exception. Is Jesus speaking to us, or is his
message today to be accommodated to our times?
St. Paul tells us: “We refuse to practice cunning or to tamper
with God’s word, but by the open statement of the truth we would
commend ourselves to every man’s conscience.”
Christ wants what is best for us. He came into our world to
teach us the truth about God’s plan for human life and human
love, about marriage and family, about how the nations are to
work together for the common good. He announced that “the
Kingdom of God is near; repent and believe in the Gospel.”
God’s plan for us as bodied persons, male and female, is that
each of us must learn how to make the total gift of ourselves to
others. We will only find fulfillment when we are able to make
this total gift of ourselves. And Christ is our model. The
reason He came into our world was to make the total gift of
himself to us and His Church, to love us, and to show us how to
love in turn.
Our sexuality, our being designed as either a male-person, or a
female-person, is to be assimilated into the gift of ourselves.
Pope John Paul II calls this the “nuptial meaning of the body”
in his theology of the body. As Christ loved his bride, the
Church, so is a man to love his wife. As Christ gave himself
totally to his people, the people of God, so is a single person,
religious or priest, to make the gift of themselves. In this we
shall find our true happiness and our fulfillment as persons.
Jesus’ teaching about divorce and adultery is as valid today as
the day when he first announced them. He takes us back “to the
beginning, to God’s original plan. God’s plan for human love and
human life are exceedingly rich. They were meant for everyone.
Everyone is called to experience the joy and happiness that God
has designed for the one who will seek the will of God and hold
firm to His plan for us.
May we discover the theology of the body and its rich insights
into God’s plan for us as bodied persons, male and female, made
in the image and likeness of God.
PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL
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That the alumni reunion may rejuvenate and reanimate our
graduates for their role in the new evangelization, let us
pray to the Lord …
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For the primacy of the spiritual life in our daily
affairs …
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That Christians everywhere may promote the primary
social value of the family …
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For the special “genius” of women, which assures
sensitivity for the human being in the family, in society,
and in the ecclesial community …
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For a rejection of unsustainable patterns of consumption
and production, and the acceptance of universal solidarity,
social justice and responsibility …
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