The Catholic Church has been blessed with many favours from God who has given her many saints to take care of the faithful. Father Pio (1887-1968) was one such priest. He was famous not just for the stigmata on his body, but also for his fervent love of God and the souls of fellow men. He was able to lead people to God in his confessional where he usually spent more than 12 hours a day. Father Pio demonstrated all the theological and cardinal virtues expected of a Christian. His life was exemplary and continues to live on in those hearts and souls which he had touched in his life time. Praise be to God forever. Amen.
A small group of Jews returned from Babylon to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. These remnants returned to a place vacant for half a century. Naturally, it was occupied by the indigenous people: the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites(Ezra 9:1b).
When the Jews returned and settled down, some of them married the local people. Among them, the officials and chief men took the lead.
For they have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons; so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost (Ezra 9:2)
Ezra was filled with anger and despair. He interpreted their Babylonian Exile as God's punishment for the sins of their fathers. Now that God had been merciful so that a remnant was able to return to Jerusalem. However, these people seemed intended to test God to the limit. They ignored the precepts of the Torah and intermarried with the local people.
Therefore give not your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever (Ezra 9:12, Deuteronomy 7:3)
Ezra saw these marriages as an invitation to God to destroy them.
And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that thou, our God, hast punished us less than our iniquities deserved and hast given us such a remnant as this,
shall we break thy commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Wouldst thou not be angry with us till thou wouldst consume us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape? (Ezra 9:13-14)
In the end, he imposed divorce on all mixed marriages. He told three full months to finish all divorce business.
Then the returned exiles did so. Ezra the priest selected men, heads of fathers' houses, according to their fathers' houses, each of them designated by name. On the first day of the tenth month they sat down to examine the matter;
and by the first day of the first month they had come to the end of all the men who had married foreign women (Ezra 10:16-17).
Was Ezra an alarmist, exaggerating the wrath of God? Did he have any hidden agenda? After all, what would he gain? Most likely, Ezra would gain nothing. The whole incident went down in the Jewish post-exile history as a major milestone in Judaism. But in the light of New Testament ethics, this is a powerful illustration of the irrationality of a legalistic morality.
St. Paul opposed divorce, even the divorce between a believer and the spouse. His focus was the opposite of the Torah and Ezra. The wrath of God was not his concern. Rather, Paul looked at the benefits for an unbelieving spouse.
To the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her.
If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him.
For the unbelieving husband is consecrated through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is consecrated through her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but as it is they are holy (1 Corinthians 7:12-13).
Fearing the wrath of God, Ezra imposed divorce on mixed marriages. Looking at the sanctity of marriage, Paul opposed divorce. Both sides have equally forceful logic. Therefore, rationality or even conscience could not decide. The will of God has the final say. Jesus has spoken against divorce. Period.
When the Jews returned and settled down, some of them married the local people. Among them, the officials and chief men took the lead.
For they have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons; so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost (Ezra 9:2)
Ezra was filled with anger and despair. He interpreted their Babylonian Exile as God's punishment for the sins of their fathers. Now that God had been merciful so that a remnant was able to return to Jerusalem. However, these people seemed intended to test God to the limit. They ignored the precepts of the Torah and intermarried with the local people.
Therefore give not your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever (Ezra 9:12, Deuteronomy 7:3)
Ezra saw these marriages as an invitation to God to destroy them.
And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that thou, our God, hast punished us less than our iniquities deserved and hast given us such a remnant as this,
shall we break thy commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Wouldst thou not be angry with us till thou wouldst consume us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape? (Ezra 9:13-14)
In the end, he imposed divorce on all mixed marriages. He told three full months to finish all divorce business.
Then the returned exiles did so. Ezra the priest selected men, heads of fathers' houses, according to their fathers' houses, each of them designated by name. On the first day of the tenth month they sat down to examine the matter;
and by the first day of the first month they had come to the end of all the men who had married foreign women (Ezra 10:16-17).
Was Ezra an alarmist, exaggerating the wrath of God? Did he have any hidden agenda? After all, what would he gain? Most likely, Ezra would gain nothing. The whole incident went down in the Jewish post-exile history as a major milestone in Judaism. But in the light of New Testament ethics, this is a powerful illustration of the irrationality of a legalistic morality.
St. Paul opposed divorce, even the divorce between a believer and the spouse. His focus was the opposite of the Torah and Ezra. The wrath of God was not his concern. Rather, Paul looked at the benefits for an unbelieving spouse.
To the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her.
If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him.
For the unbelieving husband is consecrated through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is consecrated through her husband. Otherwise, your children would be unclean, but as it is they are holy (1 Corinthians 7:12-13).
Fearing the wrath of God, Ezra imposed divorce on mixed marriages. Looking at the sanctity of marriage, Paul opposed divorce. Both sides have equally forceful logic. Therefore, rationality or even conscience could not decide. The will of God has the final say. Jesus has spoken against divorce. Period.
Dear Lord, open our hearts to read Your words in the Bible. Enlighten our intellect and warm our souls so that we may live. Amen.
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