From the editor’s Desk (Friday, 10-09-2015, Gaudium Press) The first human institution was neither governmental nor economic, nor occupational. Adam was created and Eve was formed from his rib; they constituted the first human family, the origin and cause of all future families. From the beginning, as later reaffirmed by the Saviour (cf. Mk 10:6-8), God created man and woman, who, being joined in accord with the eternal design of His wisdom, “become one flesh” (Gn 2:24).
The solidity and stability of this union-which was given the sublime status of a Sacrament by Christ Himself as Founder of the Church-is rooted in the fact that it is wrought by God Himself, while the ministers are the spouses. The initiative is human, but the result is divine, for which reason man does not have the power to annul it. This reality was sanctioned by the Redeemer with a clear order: “What therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder” (Mt 19:6).
This was one of the factors that set Him at odds with the Pharisees: caught up in the human aspects of the question, and little interested in the divine plan, they sought to distort the Mosaic principles to adapt Religion to their passions. But Jesus Christ made no allowances for their desires; obstinate and unrepentant in this and other positions, the Pharisees voluntarily fell by the wayside of history…
From within the Christian vision of marriage, families arose that formed societies inspired on the Gospel, destined to flourish in the fruits of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal 5:22-23). In an utterly natural manner, a man would become acquainted with a woman, and, actuated by charity, they would decide to marry; despite the difficulties encountered they would persevere. Years would go by, and they would still get along well together. This is how societies endured for twenty centuries…
But then divorce appeared on the scene and, with it, increasingly erratic forms of “families”. Instead of diminishing, problems, escalated… Now we have reached a state of affairs in which the family is suffering a global crisis and stands at a crossroads in history. In an almost cyclic fashion, the hardness of heart that Jesus denounced in the Pharisees (cf. Mk 10:5) has made a comeback: under essentially similar pretexts, they connive to twist the truth, thinking it their right to demand that God justify the effects of the disordered passions. Where is the remedy for this ancient evil to be found this time?
For the same problem, the same solution applies. Yesterday, just like today and all times, man can never escape suffering on this earth. The secret for happiness, then, lies not in side-stepping suffering, but in facing it the right way. The happiness of the well-formed family is inseparable from the Rock upon which it was built (cf. Lk 6:48). As long as both spouses are fervent in their love of God they neither fear nor falter; even when they suffer, they are filled with spiritual joy. The key to the happiness of a given society, then, rests in its being made up of families whose members strive for holiness.
Source: Heralds of the Gospel Magazine, October 2015
