Monday, Last Week of Ordinary Time

Matthew 19:1-12
The Daily Office

First, let’s directly, and briefly, deal with the d-word.  Most scholars believe that Mark’s Gospel was the earliest.  And in Mark’s version of this story, there is no exception given in Jesus’s admonition against divorce.  Matthew’s Gospel, written later and for a living breathing community of human beings, allows the exception of “sexual immorality” as grounds for divorce.  In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul allowed for the possibility of divorce when one spouse was a believer and the other was not.  Just to be clear, Jesus laid down the principle clearly.  Then his Church did its best to live out that teaching without ignoring human weakness and the need for compassion.  And so the Church does today, imperfectly but faithfully.

Now to the deeper issue in today’s reading: desire.  Jesus does not impose celibacy on anyone.  Celibacy is not intended to be a burden.  Celibacy is not a cross for anyone to bear.  As explained by Jesus, celibacy is a gift from God.  It is one of way of fulfilling desire.  Desire is not synonymous with lust, or gluttony, or any manifestation of self-indulgence.  At the end of the Second Vatican Council, the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church agreed that the Church’s “message is in harmony with the most secret desires of the human heart.”

It is true that the world, and sometimes the accusing angel we call Satan lays on layer after layer of other desires.  These may satisfy for a time.  But after their pleasure has dissipated, they will always leave us empty.  Sometimes, it is necessary to try and strip away those layers.  That is the process of self-denial.  But self denial is not the point of this process.  The goal is always to find that most secret desire, the desire that our Creator first gave us and wants us to rediscover.

When we find that desire, we will find self-fulfillment, and the power to fill others with the joy we have found.  I believe that for all of us, the deepest desire is not the simple satisfaction of appetite, but union with others.  Celibacy and sexuality are but different ways of finding that union.  Celibacy seeks the widest possible union here in this life, as those to whom it is given are free to love all equally.  Marriage seeks the most intense union as preparation for that wider union which we all will share, with God and each other. 

But remember, desire is not our enemy.  Desire is the first gift of God, for ultimately, we all desire to return to the source of our life and our joy.  Listen closely for the secret whispering in your heart.