THANK you Maureen Smiles for opening the Pandora’s Box on ‘broken marriages’ that afflict so many of us (CL 19/10/03).
You omitted in your letter to give Jesus’ response to the question, ‘Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?’
Jesus responded, ‘It is because you were so unteachable that he (Moses) wrote this commandment (to draw up a writ of dismissal and so divorce) for you.
‘But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female. This is why a man must leave father and mother, and the two become one body … what God has united, man must not divide … The man who divorces his wife and marries another is guilty of adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another she is guilty of adultery too.’
How Catholic are we if we pick the doctrines which suit us? As hard as this teaching may be for divorced Catholics wishing to remarry, the path to sanctity lies in our acceptance of all Church doctrines, not just the ones that suit us.
It is a terrifying thought that Catholics may commit spiritual suicide when refused an annulment for the purpose of remarriage. Holy Mother Church is a good parent and knows, better than we do, what is best for us.
The saints, in listening and being obedient to the Church, became like little children and entered the Kingdom.
When we think life is too hard for us, we should think of the passion of Jesus. If we all thought less about the now, which is fleeting in light of eternity, and imitated Jesus and the lives of the saints we would be well on the way to healing the wounds in the Mystical Body of Christ.
Maureen Smiles said she and others were hoping to hear words of wisdom in relation to divorce and annulments.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church gives clear teaching on the subject. Naturally there are exceptions to the rule and in such cases the Marriage Tribunal grants annulments.
It is a rare priest who has the courage to speak on the taboo subject of sin, but such priests do exist in this archdiocese. On the day in question (5/10/03), I attended Mass, and the priest, a simple, uncomplicated soul gave an astounding ‘sermon’ on marriage and marriage breakdown and lay the blame for marriage breakdown where it belongs – on contraception, pornography, fornication, abortion etc.
Fr Paul Marx OSB said, ‘Modern men and women demand a strict set of standards in science and technology but demand relaxed standards in morals and spirituality.
‘Both demands are made in the name of progress – greater precision and global standardisation for material things, but greater imprecision and relativity for moral things. Why this disparity? Why this schizoid view of what makes for progress?’
What I have written may be unpopular, but I’ll borrow a leaf from Blessed Teresa who encourages us to tell it like it is, even if people don’t like what we say. Blessed Teresa said, ‘Say it anyway’.
St Paul’s words from the Mass on the day of Blessed Teresa’s beatification tell us, ‘No created thing can hide from Him; everything is uncovered from the eyes of the one to whom we must all give an account of ourselves … Let us be confident then in approaching the throne of grace where we shall receive mercy from him and grace when we are in need of help’.
Never before in the history of the world have we been so much in need of God’s mercy, grace and help which is there for the asking.
JENNY DAVIES
Holland Park, Qld
