Marriage is a gift from God. By this, two people become one with the Father. They exchange vows not only for each other but also for God, and once blessed by the priest, these vows create an eternal bond between the couple as well as a promise to God that they will love and trust each other until their last breath. Marriage is not only a celebration of love, but also of being one before God.

For some reason, other people no longer consider the sacredness of the sacrament of marriage. Some are using this sacrament to serve their needs, like marrying for the sake of family business, unexpected pregnancy, fixed marriage, opportunity to go abroad, and so on. Moreover, some even use this to bind the other party and secure themselves. That is why when matters go wrong, they would use to their advantage the legality of the marriage without any regard to its sacramentality. Where is the true meaning of the sacrament then? What happened to the covenant that they ratified before God and His people? Marriage is a calling between two people to be one before God, not a set of legal documents. Marriage is a calling of love, and God blesses that love and manifests in that love.

As a priest in process, I have already chosen whom to love, and that is, God. I am choosing to love God’s people rather than just one person. This life I chose is similar to a married life in that I will experience the same hurts, rejections, and betrayals. Love has also called me: to love for the poor and needy, to love those in pain, to love those who are sick, and to love the lost, the least, and the last. Yes, I wanted to be “married,” but to God and His Church to whom I will dedicate my life for the service and good of His people until my last breath.

By: John Patrick C. Gamao

Today’s Gospel

Matthew 19:3-12

Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying,
“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?”
He said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning
the Creator made them male and female and said,
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?
So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate.”
They said to him, “Then why did Moses command
that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss her?”
He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts
Moses allowed you to divorce your wives,
but from the beginning it was not so.
I say to you, whoever divorces his wife
(unless the marriage is unlawful)
and marries another commits adultery.”
His disciples said to him,
“If that is the case of a man with his wife,
it is better not to marry.”
He answered, “Not all can accept this word,
but only those to whom that is granted.
Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so;
some, because they were made so by others;
some, because they have renounced marriage
for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven.
Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”