One Flesh: A Reflection on the 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time

In this weekend's gospel reading, we get to hear one of my favorite bible quotes. It is one that reminds me of how special my wife is to me and what she really means to me. It is a passage that reminds us of what marriage is all about. It is a quote that is so important that we hear it not only in the first reading which is from Genesis but in the gospel reading also.

In the first reading, man is lonely and God gives to him all of the animals of the land and of the sea. None of them prove to be a suitable partner. In order to make man happy, God puts Adam to sleep takes out a rib and creates Eve. Adam is excited! He says "This one, at last, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh." The passage goes on and says that this why a man must leave his mother and father and clings to his wife and the two of them become one flesh.

We then see in the gospel reading, Jesus is asked if a man can divorce his wife. The Pharisees were trying to trick him because Moses had given them permission. Jesus corrects them and says that Moses allowed them because of their hard hearts but it was not meant to be in the beginning. Jesus repeats the quote from Genesis. "God made them male and female. For this reason a man must leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two become one flesh.

When Abby and I were married we were no longer two separate individuals. We became one. That means I should treat her as well as I treat myself. That means I should love her as I love myself. Sadly, because of my own selfishness, I don't always do this but it's what I should strive to do. ironically, that is the way we were designed. We were designed to treat each other just how we treat ourselves. Do you ever wonder why Adam and Eve were naked until original sin came along?? It is because before sin they were able to see each other as PEOPLE to be loved and not as objects to be used. We HAVE to treat people the way we were designed to be. We have to treat them as people to be loved and not objects to be used. It is difficult because we are selfish and we don't trust the other person to treat us the same way. We want to use before being used.

At the very least, we need to practice this philosophy at home--with our spouse. We have to treat our husbands and our wives as the people we love most in the world. We have to stop treating marriage as a civil union only useful until one or both parties decide the arrangement isn't for them. Marriage is more that that. It is a bonding sealed by God. it's a sacrament where we receive graces and are supposed to be there for the other in order to help the other better themselves and get to Heaven.

I highly encourage everyone to try to understand how we were designed and what God's plans for marriage are. Love starts at home and I've found that as I understand God's plan for marriage better, i have become closer to Abby and our marriage gets better. i fall in love with her every single day. She is after all, "bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh."