Intimate connections

The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today resonate with the concept of Covenant that we strive to maintain with friends, spouses, and our home, the earth.

Covenant friendship

The Book of Sirach offers a poem to true friendship.

* [6:5–17] One of several poems Ben Sira wrote on friendship; see also 9:10–16; 12:8–18; 13:1–23; 19:13–17; 22:19–26; 27:16–21. True friends are discerned not by prosperity (v. 11), but through the trials of adversity: distress, quarrels (v. 9), sorrow (v. 10) and misfortune (v. 12). Such friends are rare, a gift from God (vv. 14–17).1 

In the Gospel from Mark, Jesus addresses the Covenant nature of marriage and the difficulty of divorce as practiced in Jewish culture of His time.

* [10:2–9] In the dialogue between Jesus and the Pharisees on the subject of divorce, Jesus declares that the law of Moses permitted divorce (Dt 24:1) only because of the hardness of your hearts (Mk 10:4–5). In citing Gn 1:27 and 2:24 Jesus proclaims permanence to be the divine intent from the beginning concerning human marriage (Mk 10:6–8). He reaffirms this with the declaration that what God has joined together, no human being must separate (Mk 10:9). See further the notes on Mt 5:31–32; 19:3–9.2 

Colleen Chiacchere comments that the urge to stay true to her marriage isn’t challenged by adultery in the traditional sense, but in the way she prioritizes other demands on her time with her relationship with her husband. She invites us to reflect on some questions that might resonate with us.

Who are my friends and confidants in the Lord?  Maybe I take some time to prayer in gratitude for them and to share my gratitude with them.
Prayerfully, I take stock of the priorities and commitments in my life...  Does my daily/weekly schedule reflect my values, my faith and priorities?
What do the daily consolations and desolations of my relationships invite me to do, in particular as we prepare for Lent beginning in the coming days?3 

Don Schwager quotes “Mutual servants, equally serving,” by Tertullian, 160-225 A.D.

"Where are we to find language adequately to express the happiness of that marriage which the church cements, the oblation confirms, the benediction signs and seals, the angels celebrate, and the Father holds as approved? For all around the earth young people do not rightly and lawfully wed without their parents' consent. What kind of yoke is that of two believers who share one hope, one desire, one discipline, one service? (Ephesians 4:4) They enjoy kinship in spirit and in flesh. They are mutual servants with no discrepancy of interests. Truly they are 'two in one flesh' (Genesis 2:24; Matthew 19:5; Ephesians 5:31). Where the flesh is one, the spirit is one as well. Together they pray, together bow down, together perform their fasts, mutually teaching, mutually entreating, mutually upholding. In the church of God they hold an equal place. (Romans 12:15; 15:6; Galatians 3:28; 1 Corinthians 12:12) They stand equally at the banquet of God, equally in crises, equally facing persecutions, and equally in refreshments. Neither hides anything from the other. Neither neglects the other. Neither is troublesome to the other (Philippians 1:27)." (excerpt from TO HIS WIFE 2.8)4 

The Word Among Us Meditation on Sirach 6:5-17 comments that Sirach describes the kind of friend we all want to have—one who sticks by us no matter what. In good times and bad, through ups and downs, a true friend remains faithful. It’s no accident that this quality of faithfulness is echoed in the wedding vows we profess: for better or worse, in sickness and health, for richer or poorer, until death.

 So how do we learn to love like that? By steeping ourselves in the knowledge of God’s faithfulness: his unwavering, reliable commitment to us. The more we experience what this kind of friendship is like, the more ready we will be to show it to the people closest to us.
Who loves more perfectly than Jesus, the Friend who never forsakes you, the Spouse who is always devoted? Who knows you better than your Father, who sees all your sin and yet stays with you to help you grow in holiness?5

Friar Jude Winkler reminds us that Ben Sira wrote to express the Jewish Wisdom of his time to a society immersed in Greek influences. The difficulty of divorce is in division of a Covenant. Friar Jude discusses the efforts of Pope Francis to enrich the Christian Life of divorced people.

Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that after the Council of Chalcedon (451), the church agreed on a philosophical definition of Jesus’ humanity and divinity as being united as one in him. All true, but such oneness largely remained distant academic theory because we did not draw out the practical and wonderful implications for humanity.

 Perhaps the primary example of Christians’ lack of attention to the Christ Mystery can be seen in the way we continue to pollute and ravage planet Earth, the very thing we all stand on and live from. Science now appears to love and respect physicality more than most religion does! No wonder that science and business have taken over as the major explainers of meaning for most people today (even many who still go to church). Christians did not take this world seriously, I am afraid, because our notion of God or salvation didn’t include or honor the physical universe. And now, I am afraid, the world does not take Christianity seriously.6

The Covenant of friendship, marriage and connection to our planet bring rich life as we live in giving and contributing to eternal value.

References

1	(n.d.). Sirach chapter 6 - United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Retrieved March 1, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/bible/Sirach/6:5
2	(n.d.). Mark, chapter 10. Retrieved March 1, 2019, from http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/bible/mark/10:1
3	(n.d.). Creighton U Daily Reflections .... Retrieved March 1, 2019, from http://onlineministries.creighton.edu/CollaborativeMinistry/daily.html
4	(n.d.). Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations. Retrieved March 1, 2019, from https://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/
5	(n.d.). 7th Week in Ordinary Time - Mass Readings and Catholic Daily .... Retrieved March 1, 2019, from https://wau.org/meditations/2019/03/01
6	(n.d.). Daily Meditations Archives — Center for Action and Contemplation. Retrieved March 1, 2019, from https://cac.org/category/daily-meditations/2019/02/