One Minute Reflection – 7 October – Today’s Gospel – Mark 10:2–16 – Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B and the Memorial of Our Lady of the Rosary
“…The two shall become one flesh.”...Mark 10:8
REFLECTION – “In the world of the Bible, God’s relationship with Israel is described using the metaphors of betrothal and marriage – idolatry is thus adultery and prostitution… But God’s eros for man is also totally agape. This is not only because it is bestowed in a completely gratuitous manner, without any previous merit but also because it is love which forgives… In this biblical vision, on the one hand we find ourselves before a strictly metaphysical image of God: God is the absolute and ultimate source of all being but this universal principle of creation—the Logos, primordial reason—is at the same time a lover with all the passion of a true love. Eros is thus supremely ennobled, yet at the same time it is so purified as to become one with agape… The first novelty of biblical faith consists… in its image of God. The second, essentially connected to this, is found in the image of man.
The biblical account of creation speaks of the solitude of Adam, the first man and God’s decision to give him a helper… The idea is certainly present that man is somehow incomplete, driven by nature to seek in another the part that can make him whole, the idea that only in communion with the opposite sex can he become “complete”. The biblical account thus concludes with a prophecy about Adam: “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife and they become one flesh” (Gen 2:24).
Two aspects of this are important. First, eros is somehow rooted in man’s very nature; Adam is a seeker, who “abandons his mother and father” in order to find woman, only together do the two represent complete humanity and become “one flesh”. The second aspect is equally important. From the standpoint of creation, eros directs man towards marriage, to a bond which is unique and definitiv, thus and only thus, does it fulfil its deepest purpose. Corresponding to the image of a monotheistic God is monogamous marriage. Marriage based on exclusive and definitive love, becomes the icon of the relationship between God and His people and vice versa. God’s way of loving becomes the measure of human love…Pope Benedict XVI – Encyclical letter “Deus caritas est”, # 9-11
PRAYER – Almighty, everliving God, whose love surpasses all that we ask or deserve, open up for us, the treasures of Your mercy. Teach us the truth of love and forgive us all that weighs on our conscience. Grant us even more than we dare to ask and grant us the merciful and guiding assistance of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Through Him who redeemed us in unity with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
oly Spirit, one God forever and ever. Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, pray for us, amen.
AnaStpaul 