D
distracted
Guest
**August 13, 2010
**
***Friday (8-13) Mass Readings / Commentary (Jerusalem’s inglorious beginnings / God makes her beautiful / she becomes a harlot / “let no man put [marriage] asunder”) ***
Ez 16:1-15, 60, 63 or Ez 16:59-63
The word of the LORD came to me:
Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations.
Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem:
By origin and birth you are of the land of Canaan;
your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
As for your birth, the day you were born your navel cord was not cut;
you were neither washed with water nor anointed, nor were you rubbed with salt, nor swathed in swaddling clothes.
No one looked on you with pity or compassion
to do any of these things for you.
Rather, you were thrown out on the ground as something loathsome,
the day you were born.
Then I passed by and saw you weltering in your blood.
I said to you: Live in your blood and grow like a plant in the field.
You grew and developed, you came to the age of puberty;
your breasts were formed, your hair had grown,
but you were still stark naked.
Again I passed by you and saw that you were now old enough for love.
So I spread the corner of my cloak over you to cover your nakedness;
I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you;
you became mine, says the Lord GOD.
Then I bathed you with water, washed away your blood,
and anointed you with oil.
I clothed you with an embroidered gown…
your garments were of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth.
Fine flour, honey, and oil were your food.
You were exceedingly beautiful, with the dignity of a queen.
You were renowned among the nations for your beauty, perfect as it was,
because of my splendor which I had bestowed on you,
says the Lord GOD.
But you were captivated by your own beauty,
you used your renown to make yourself a harlot,
and you lavished your harlotry on every passer-by,
whose own you became.
Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were a girl,
and I will set up an everlasting covenant with you,
that you may remember and be covered with confusion,
and that you may be utterly silenced for shame
when I pardon you for all you have done, says the Lord GOD.
Isaiah 12:2-3, 4, 5-6 Responsorial Psalm.
Mt 19:3-12 Gospel
***Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying,
“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?”***He said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning
the Creator made them male and female and said,
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?
***So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate.” ***
They said to him, “Then why did Moses command
that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss her?”
He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts
Moses allowed you to divorce your wives,
but from the beginning it was not so.
***I say to you, whoever divorces his wife
(unless the marriage is unlawful)
and marries another commits adultery.”***His disciples said to him,
“If that is the case of a man with his wife,
it is better not to marry.”
He answered, “Not all can accept this word,
but only those to whom that is granted.
Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so;
some, because they were made so by others;
some, because they have renounced marriage
for the sake of… Heaven.
.
.***
God covers Jerusalem’s nakedness (which i interpret as the Israelites’ need* of Him… to be complete. We all need Jesus to cover our “nakedness”).
God makes Jerusalem beautiful (by giving it His laws and decrees) and others admire this beauty and are drawn to it, but Jerusalem becomes a harlot (forgets God). God makes Jerusalem remember the covenant with Him and makes it feel ashamed for leaving Him.
In the gospel Jesus speaks of how marriage was never intended by God to end in divorce, but that Moses allowed divorce becasue of the hardness of their hearts. Hmm… i could never figure out why Moses, who loved God so much, gave in to their demands for divorce…(?). So they had hard hearts… Does giving them what they want make their hearts less hard?? I don’t get it…
The Church teaches that marriage is indissoluble unless it was an unlawful marriage in the 1st place, which means that no marriage actually took place… (just presumed marriage… but objectively speaking, fornication).
I wonder if the Church is influenced by the lax morals of those outside the Church…? I’ve heard some say that the annulment process is just Catholic divorce… and that annulments are granted far too often. I know of few cases one way or the other but in one of the cases i know of, it was NOT granted. The husband didn’t want the divorce, but the wife did and she ignored the Church’s teaching (decision) & started living in sin w/ her lover anyhow… She wasn’t raised Catholic… so i guess she figured that gave her license to disobey the Church… hmmm… wonder how that shacking up situation turned out?? I’ll bet it turned out heavenly…
**
**
***Friday (8-13) Mass Readings / Commentary (Jerusalem’s inglorious beginnings / God makes her beautiful / she becomes a harlot / “let no man put [marriage] asunder”) ***
Ez 16:1-15, 60, 63 or Ez 16:59-63
The word of the LORD came to me:
Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations.
Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem:
By origin and birth you are of the land of Canaan;
your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
As for your birth, the day you were born your navel cord was not cut;
you were neither washed with water nor anointed, nor were you rubbed with salt, nor swathed in swaddling clothes.
No one looked on you with pity or compassion
to do any of these things for you.
Rather, you were thrown out on the ground as something loathsome,
the day you were born.
Then I passed by and saw you weltering in your blood.
I said to you: Live in your blood and grow like a plant in the field.
You grew and developed, you came to the age of puberty;
your breasts were formed, your hair had grown,
but you were still stark naked.
Again I passed by you and saw that you were now old enough for love.
So I spread the corner of my cloak over you to cover your nakedness;
I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you;
you became mine, says the Lord GOD.
Then I bathed you with water, washed away your blood,
and anointed you with oil.
I clothed you with an embroidered gown…
your garments were of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth.
Fine flour, honey, and oil were your food.
You were exceedingly beautiful, with the dignity of a queen.
You were renowned among the nations for your beauty, perfect as it was,
because of my splendor which I had bestowed on you,
says the Lord GOD.
But you were captivated by your own beauty,
you used your renown to make yourself a harlot,
and you lavished your harlotry on every passer-by,
whose own you became.
Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were a girl,
and I will set up an everlasting covenant with you,
that you may remember and be covered with confusion,
and that you may be utterly silenced for shame
when I pardon you for all you have done, says the Lord GOD.
Isaiah 12:2-3, 4, 5-6 Responsorial Psalm.
Mt 19:3-12 Gospel
***Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying,
“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?”***He said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning
the Creator made them male and female and said,
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?
***So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate.” ***
They said to him, “Then why did Moses command
that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss her?”
He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts
Moses allowed you to divorce your wives,
but from the beginning it was not so.
***I say to you, whoever divorces his wife
(unless the marriage is unlawful)
and marries another commits adultery.”***His disciples said to him,
“If that is the case of a man with his wife,
it is better not to marry.”
He answered, “Not all can accept this word,
but only those to whom that is granted.
Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so;
some, because they were made so by others;
some, because they have renounced marriage
for the sake of… Heaven.
.
.***
God covers Jerusalem’s nakedness (which i interpret as the Israelites’ need* of Him… to be complete. We all need Jesus to cover our “nakedness”).
God makes Jerusalem beautiful (by giving it His laws and decrees) and others admire this beauty and are drawn to it, but Jerusalem becomes a harlot (forgets God). God makes Jerusalem remember the covenant with Him and makes it feel ashamed for leaving Him.
In the gospel Jesus speaks of how marriage was never intended by God to end in divorce, but that Moses allowed divorce becasue of the hardness of their hearts. Hmm… i could never figure out why Moses, who loved God so much, gave in to their demands for divorce…(?). So they had hard hearts… Does giving them what they want make their hearts less hard?? I don’t get it…
The Church teaches that marriage is indissoluble unless it was an unlawful marriage in the 1st place, which means that no marriage actually took place… (just presumed marriage… but objectively speaking, fornication).
I wonder if the Church is influenced by the lax morals of those outside the Church…? I’ve heard some say that the annulment process is just Catholic divorce… and that annulments are granted far too often. I know of few cases one way or the other but in one of the cases i know of, it was NOT granted. The husband didn’t want the divorce, but the wife did and she ignored the Church’s teaching (decision) & started living in sin w/ her lover anyhow… She wasn’t raised Catholic… so i guess she figured that gave her license to disobey the Church… hmmm… wonder how that shacking up situation turned out?? I’ll bet it turned out heavenly…
**