COLLECT: “O GOD, WHO FILLED THE PRIEST AND MARTYR SAINT MAXIMILIAN KOLBE WITH A BURNING LOVE FOR THE IMMACULATE VIRGIN MARY AND WITH ZEAL FOR SOULS AND LOVE OF NEIGHBOUR, GRACIOUSLY GRANT, THROUGH HIS INTERCESSION, THAT, STRIVING FOR YOUR GLORY BY EARGERLY SERVING OTHERS, WE MAY BE CONFORMED, EVEN UNTIL DEATH, TO YOUR SON. WHO LIVES AND REIGNS WITH YOU IN THE UNITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, GOD, FOR EVER AND EVER. AMEN.”
Ez 16:1-15,60,63 or 16:59-63; Ps 12:2-6 and Mt 19:3-12.
Born near Lodz, Poland, Raymond Kolbe became a Franciscan priest and took the name Maximilian. He was intensely devoted to the Blessed Virgin Mary and established an organisation called the Militia of Mary Immaculate. He began publishing a monthly magazine that soon had a circulation of over one million copies. After the Nazi invaded Poland, Maximilian was arrested and sent to Auschwitz. He heroically offered his life in place of another man who had been selected for execution. After starving him for two weeks, the Nazis killed him with a lethal injection. “I am a Catholic Priest from Poland. I would like to take his place because he has a wife and children” (Saint Maximilian Kolbe).
The message from today’s scriptures centres on marriage. In the portion from the Book of Ezekiel, God, speaking through the prophet Ezekiel, forgives the infidelity of his spouse, Israel and takes her back as his wife. He does not divorce her. In the portion of the Gospel of Luke for today, Jesus states that God’s original plan for marriage did not include divorce. Divorce is often caused by human beings due to our hardness of heart and our so-called human wisdom.
The questions I always ask are: Does divorce solve the problem the marriage partners are encountering? Does this not create more problems or compound the problems, not only for the couple but also for other people, leading to innocent people like the children (if they are lucky to have been blessed with some) suffering? Marriages, divorces, as well as separation cases, in our contemporary times are rampant. WHY?
Is it that the partners do not take their time to study and know one another, at least to a certain extent? Do they rush into the marriage? Do they deceive one another, hiding their evil nature/characters or hiding behind their true natures during courtship? Does society, tradition or culture, for that matter, have a hand in marriage and divorce?
Most societies, religions and culture/tradition think that unmarried life is a failure, a waste and useless. Therefore, when someone is not married in such setups, he/she is looked at with scorn. This attitude forces people who are not even called into the marriage vocation to go into it, and after a short period of time, they begin to experience challenges and eventually break up. Let us learn from what Jesus said at the end of the Gospel: “Not all can accept this word, but only those to whom it has been granted. Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so……some because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven…” (Mt 19:10-12). We should not also overrule the fact that some marriage partners, especially some men, simply only want to “use” and exploit the women, “drop” her and go in for other “brand new ones”.
This is not acceptable,e and God will surely not forgive such men. Well, some women also see marriage as a “poverty-alleviating venture and enterprise” where they move from man to man to enrich themselves and their families. This is not acceptable, and God will not forgive such women. Marriage, indeed, is a noble and divine institution, and therefore we should not meddle with it.
Patience, tolerance, sacrifice, genuine love, perseverance and endurance, forgiveness, humility, etc., etc. and finally the presence of the Lord through prayer can make marriages work and last. Otherwise, forget it.
Once again, let us call to mind that “from the beginning the Creator made them male and female and said, for this reason a man (take note, not a woman!!!: anyway not for our discussion today, maybe another time) shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”. There should be no room for divorce or the two who have become one in marriage becoming two any time. That is why those going into it should know that it is a vocation, a lifelong commitment, and therefore they must prepare adequately before they go in. Let marriage partners not harden their hearts to force them to ask for divorce. Please, pray seriously for marriage couples. May Saint Maximilian Kolbe intercede for us. Stay blessed and have a happy feast to all who bear the name Maximilian Kolbe.
WE MEDITATE TODAY, FRIDAY, ON THE SORROWFUL MYSTERIES: ‘THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN, THE SCOURGING AT THE PILLAR, THE CROWNING WITH THORNS, THE CARRYING OF THE CROSS AND THE CRUCIFIXION’ (WE PRAY FOR SORROW FOR SIN, PURITY, COURAGE, PATIENCE, AND PERSEVERANCE) “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus: Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us, sinners, now and the hour of our death, Amen”.
PRAYER: “WE PRAY, O LORD, THAT, RENEWED BY THE BODY AND BLOOD OF YOUR SON, WE MAY BE INFLAMED WITH THE SAME FIRE OF CHARITY THAT SAINT MAXIMILIAN KOLBE RECEIVED FROM THIS HOLY BANQUET. THROUGH CHRIST OUR LORD. AMEN.”
Rev. Fr. Aloysius Kpiebaya, Catholic Diocese of Wa, UW/R, Ghana. (00233) 0207867239/0545462863. Email: aloybaya20@yahoo.com.
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