The Family is the Kingdom of God
We have a society today where thousands of young people are drawn to drugs, prostitution, alcohol, and self harm all at record levels. Many young girls become pregant and either have an abortion, that is kill the baby growing in them or become single mothers and struggle to fulfil the role of a father and a mother, and although many do a good job far too many still put their children second when it comes to relationships and the children have "uncle after uncle' sometimes with dangerous consequences. Sexual relationships before marriage lead to unfaithfulness within marriage and the couple split as they look for new experiences. This causes children to grow with no appreciation of marriage whatsoever nor what love between two spouses looks like. Even in Catholic School there are figures which show that at least half of the children come from poor homes, that is single parent homes, where children without fathers become jealous of those who have. Some may say that all these things happened before, but this I know from my lifetime as a small boy is just not true. The Secular Society for all its boasts about equality has brought about social misery. It talks and talks about putting things right but it has no real solutions. They have built a society where love is missing.
This Sunday the Gospel will be on the absolute hatred that Jesus had for Divorce. In those Christian Churches where the Gospel is chosen every Sunday then this passage will never be read because it may offend. In the Catholic Church there is a lectionary for the year and this Gospel must be read.. However it will be seen as an old fashioned idea that had to be updated to suit the tastes of the 'present day'. Some may say "Yes, but Jesus did not mean my Divorce" Jesus was a strong family man and he goes back to the building blocks that God put in place, the building block of society is the family.
In Genesis God made them male and female. And when woman was created the male said "This is flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone", in other words this was another being who could love as much as he loves himself. That is exactly what God wanted - He had created the first love affair and when this affair brought forth children we had the first family. Thousands of year later we had Jesus saying in Mathew 19:5 "...and 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, what therefore God has joined together let not man put asunder" Jesus is speaking here in the same way that Adam spoke of his wife. The two shall become one flesh was very much the same as Adam's "She is the flesh of my flesh and the bone of my bone" so Jesus was pointing out that marriage is no ordinary union the husband and wife are to love one another as much as thy love themselves for marriage has made them one flesh.
But look at the reaction. The Jews murmured that Moses allowed Divorce but the answer by Jesus is one that everyone should take notice of, especially in the so called 'more human' Church of today. "Moses allowed you to divorce because of the HARDNESS OF YOUR HEARTS" Is this the meek and gentle Jesus who allows us to do anything as long as we follow our conscience. Perhaps 'following our conscience' is the equivalent of 'the hardness of our hearts'.
But why is Jesus so 'dictatorial'? Because he is building a Kingdom of 'love' and the family is the building block of that Kingdom. The plight of the young people I mentioned at the beginning is the result of a sustained attack on family life by the secular state. In my very small circle of life I know so many children hurt and destroyed by their father leaving their home, or by their father not even recognising their existence. I have seen the best of single motherhood and I have seen the worst.But one thing stand out - the children feel to some degree some severely some not too much, the effect of not having a father or mother around. The Family was intended by God to be the school of love. A little girl needs a father to call her his Princess. She learns from her father the kind of man she wants to marry, and she grows up to have adult relationships with boys and young men. The boy needs the mother as his model to look for in a wife and although he wants to be a man like his father, he will also appreciate the need for emotional and a softness in life he gets from his mother. There is nothing more beautiful in life than a family of a mother, father and children. The children have a bond with their natural parents that no other secular idea of marriage can match. The one bond of love unites all of them but the secular society can never invent that bond in their ideas, for in no other form of family can the bond of birth be attributed to both parents.
So the family is the school of love and when family life is strong in a community then love is strong and children are safe and secure. This is the kind of society intended by God. When children fail to find love in their family then more often than not they have little love to give to others.
Support the Church, support Life, support Family.
This Sunday the Gospel will be on the absolute hatred that Jesus had for Divorce. In those Christian Churches where the Gospel is chosen every Sunday then this passage will never be read because it may offend. In the Catholic Church there is a lectionary for the year and this Gospel must be read.. However it will be seen as an old fashioned idea that had to be updated to suit the tastes of the 'present day'. Some may say "Yes, but Jesus did not mean my Divorce" Jesus was a strong family man and he goes back to the building blocks that God put in place, the building block of society is the family.
In Genesis God made them male and female. And when woman was created the male said "This is flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone", in other words this was another being who could love as much as he loves himself. That is exactly what God wanted - He had created the first love affair and when this affair brought forth children we had the first family. Thousands of year later we had Jesus saying in Mathew 19:5 "...and 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, what therefore God has joined together let not man put asunder" Jesus is speaking here in the same way that Adam spoke of his wife. The two shall become one flesh was very much the same as Adam's "She is the flesh of my flesh and the bone of my bone" so Jesus was pointing out that marriage is no ordinary union the husband and wife are to love one another as much as thy love themselves for marriage has made them one flesh.
But look at the reaction. The Jews murmured that Moses allowed Divorce but the answer by Jesus is one that everyone should take notice of, especially in the so called 'more human' Church of today. "Moses allowed you to divorce because of the HARDNESS OF YOUR HEARTS" Is this the meek and gentle Jesus who allows us to do anything as long as we follow our conscience. Perhaps 'following our conscience' is the equivalent of 'the hardness of our hearts'.
But why is Jesus so 'dictatorial'? Because he is building a Kingdom of 'love' and the family is the building block of that Kingdom. The plight of the young people I mentioned at the beginning is the result of a sustained attack on family life by the secular state. In my very small circle of life I know so many children hurt and destroyed by their father leaving their home, or by their father not even recognising their existence. I have seen the best of single motherhood and I have seen the worst.But one thing stand out - the children feel to some degree some severely some not too much, the effect of not having a father or mother around. The Family was intended by God to be the school of love. A little girl needs a father to call her his Princess. She learns from her father the kind of man she wants to marry, and she grows up to have adult relationships with boys and young men. The boy needs the mother as his model to look for in a wife and although he wants to be a man like his father, he will also appreciate the need for emotional and a softness in life he gets from his mother. There is nothing more beautiful in life than a family of a mother, father and children. The children have a bond with their natural parents that no other secular idea of marriage can match. The one bond of love unites all of them but the secular society can never invent that bond in their ideas, for in no other form of family can the bond of birth be attributed to both parents.
So the family is the school of love and when family life is strong in a community then love is strong and children are safe and secure. This is the kind of society intended by God. When children fail to find love in their family then more often than not they have little love to give to others.
Support the Church, support Life, support Family.
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