Date: June 12, 2020 (Ordinary Time)
Bible Text: | Fr. Roniel Duenas
Series: Scripture Reflections
While I was in the airplane on my way to the foreign land which by this time has become my other home, there’s a beautiful love song that kept playing in my head. The song went: “Yahweh’s love will last forever. His faithfulness ‘til the end of time. Yahweh is a loving God; Yahweh, the faithful one. Have no fear for I am with you…go now and leave your homeland for I will give you a home.” I can’t hold back my tears every time I remember these words of the Master who has always assured me of his faithful love. There is no one else who perfectly exemplifies to me faithfulness but God whose love endures forever. Not a single word of his promise ever failed.
The Lord values faithfulness so much because it’s the best thing we can give to the people we love. It makes relationships special and last a lifetime. But this beautiful thing that happens in every relationship is not without threat. Infidelity destroys relationships; makes broken families. Betrayal by unfaithfulness hurts so bad and even destroys the other.
Jesus takes the sin of infidelity very seriously. In fact, in the gospel, subsequently after talking about committing adultery, Jesus spoke of a strong warning: “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna.” The sin of infidelity is a mortal sin. It can drag you to death-without end.
Jesus also points out to us today in the gospel the dynamics of eventually committing adultery. It all begins with lust. The more the lust is nurtured, the more it clouds our minds from the things of virtue; hence the more selfish we become, distancing ourselves from others, from our loved ones, and from God. That’s why Jesus already warns us to consider it a bad idea the very moment we think about it. Impure thoughts lead us to nowhere but sin.
Unless it was unlawful, we Catholics stand in favor of the indissolubility of marriage. In fact, marriage is a mission where the husband and wife participate in the faithfulness and fidelity of God in his covenantal love for His people. Our mission: It is good that children learn the story of God’s faithful love for His people Israel. Let this story become visible in the very love story between every mother and father in the family.