They must finally turn from their gaze at one another back toward the community.
If they had only themselves to consider, lovers would not need to marry,
but they must think of others and of other things.
They say their vows to the community as much as to one another,
and the community gathers around them to hear and to wish them well,
on their behalf and its own.
It gathers around them because it understands how necessary,
how joyful, and how fearful this joining is.
These lovers, pledging themselves to one another "until death," are giving themselves away,
and they are joined by this as no law or contract could join them.
Lovers, then, "die" into their union with one another as a soul "dies" into its union with God.
And so here, at the very heart of community life,
we find not something to sell as in the public market but this momentous giving.
If the community cannot protect this giving, it can protect nothing...”
― Wendell Berry, Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community
"Is divorce ever permissible?" the Pharisees ask.
"Jesus reminds them that God intends for marriage to be not only permanent
but transformative as well.
It's goal, He answers, is that a man and a woman leave their individuality aside
and come together to create a whole new unity, a family.
Hearing this exchange his disciples offer an honest and understandable response:
If its' so hard,
maybe it would be better not to marry at all.
Jesus gazes at them with a sad smile.
Do you think it's easier to make a permanent commitment to being single? He asks.
Not on our life!
Neither is it easy to life single while remaining open to marriage.
The truth is, living any state of life as God intended is challenging.
Circumstances change, and we scramble to adjust.
In one way or another we all fail to live up to God's ideal.
We all fail God. our spouse or our religious community from time to time.
This doesn't mean we chose the wrong vocation.
It simply means that we have momentarily forgotten
how much we need to depend on God's abundant grace.
Fidelity in marriage or singleness is only possible because God is faithful:
faithful to guide us,
faithful to sustain us,
faithful to forgive us.
Look at the refrain for today's psalm:
"His mercy endures forever."
God expresses it in many different ways at many different moments,
but He is always faithful.
His enduring mercy is the very thing we need in order to be faithful.
Spend some time today considering your vocation.
Thank God for the call He has given you.
Thank Him too, for being faithful to you as you strive to live out that call.
Whatever it is, rejoice and do it!"
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