For Better and For Worse in Our Vocations - Weekday Homily Video

This Friday we reflect on one of the vocations in our Church – the call to Married Life. Jesus addresses the sensitive matter of divorce. Moses stated in Deuteronomy 24:1 that a man could divorce his wife if he “found some indecency in her.” It is the man who had the call on the matter, and he simply wrote a bill of divorce.  

This Friday we reflect on one of the vocations in our Church – the call to Married Life. Jesus addresses the sensitive matter of divorce. Moses stated in Deuteronomy 24:1 that a man could divorce his wife if he “found some indecency in her.” It is the man who had the call on the matter, and he simply wrote a bill of divorce.  

Differing Opinions

Three different interpretive schools emerged about what a woman’s “indecency” looked like. The School of Rabbi Shammai argued that “indecency” strictly meant unfaithfulness in marriage and the woman had to be “as bad as Jezebel.” The School of Rabbi Hillel was broader in its interpretation and considered matters as broad as a poorly prepared meal, talking to a stranger in the street, bad-mouthing a relative of the husband, or complaining to a husband in a loud voice that the next-door neighbors heard the complaint! The third School was that of Rabbi Akiba, who took matters even higher when he argued that a man could divorce his wife if he found a woman who was fairer in his eyes than his wife was! 

Tricky Questions

It is against this background that the Pharisees came and asked Jesus a question about marriage and divorce. As always happened with the Pharisees, there was always something under their sleeves when they came up with such questions. They either wanted to test his orthodoxy, they wanted him to contradict himself, or they wanted to put him in trouble with Herod who had divorced his wife and married his brother’s wife. When John the Baptist condemned the act, Herod chopped off John’s head. There was always something sinister underlying such questions.  

Jesus could see through all this and did not want to engage in any theological or legal debates with the Pharisees. He simply said that Moses put into the law the phrase that held onto so much because of “the hardness of your hearts.” God’s intention for marriage from the beginning of time was that a man and a woman could live together united in love and forever in life. God’s plan was that husband and wife would hold each other’s hand in love “for better for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health” – until death separated them. 

That was the mind of God until when human weakness and the lawyers showed up. We know a friend or a family member who has been affected by this difficult situation, including in my own family. The pain and the confusion is unimaginable, not only to the adults at the center of it but even to the children. That is why it is very important to always keep in prayer those who are separated, those still in marriage, and those thinking about marriage. The stakes are high not only for themselves but also for other parties connected to them. 

A Higher Call

The Lord wants to remind us about something very important that we tend to forget – that like other vocations in the Church, marriage is a vocation too. Like the vocation to the priesthood or religious life, you don’t enter marriage to be happy. A vocation is a higher call from God that may not necessarily come with our personal happiness.  It is an invitation from God, and we need to shift the gaze from ourselves to God who called us in the vocation. When we reframe it this way, it takes on a totally different meaning.

I cannot count the number of times I didn’t like the ministry I was assigned to, or the times I didn’t like the priests and brothers I lived with or the people worked with! What helped me to navigate these seasons of my life was shifting my understanding of my vocation as not being about me and my personal happiness to what God wanted me to do. It was for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and health, in sadness and in happiness. It takes courage and a lot of grace from God to be resilient in your vocation.  

Today may we ask the Lord to increase His grace in our lives so that we can live with fidelity and resilience in our different vocations. May we ask His grace to strengthen those struggling in their vocations, and to heal those hurt in their relationship especially in the context marriage life.

• Today’s Readings

• Father Boby's inspirational homily was recorded live during Mass at the Father Peyton Center this morning. You can view the Mass (and the Rosary at the 30-minute mark) on the Family Rosary YouTube page. 

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