Message of Abbot Paul - Friday 10th June
Abbot Paul • June 10, 2022
Message from Fr Paul for Friday, 10th June 2022
Today we continue our reading of Matthew, (Mt 5: 27-32), hearing and meditating on what Jesus taught his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount. I wonder if you have ever seen that extraordinary film of Pier Paolo Pasolini, The Gospel according to Matthew (Il Vangelo secondo Matteo), made in 1964. I was in my last year at Grammar School, in the middle of my A levels (Latin plus three modern languages), when I saw it one night in an open-air cinema in Italy. It made a deep and lasting impression on me that has remained with me ever since, bringing out forcefully, as it does, the power of the words of Jesus and the radicality of his teaching. It’s not a film for the faint-hearted.
Yesterday, we focussed on the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill.” Today it is, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Jesus aims to instruct his disciples on the true meaning of the commandment, what lies at the heart of the Law. He says,
“You have learnt how it was said: You must not commit adultery. But I say this to you: if a man looks at a woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye should cause you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of you than to have your whole body thrown into hell. And if your right hand should cause you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of you than to have your whole body go to hell.”
Here, too, Jesus goes for a far broader vision of what adultery really is in the lives of all men and women. It’s not simply breaking ones marriage vows in the physical act of adultery with another’s husband or wife, it is the desires and thoughts of our hearts. For Jesus, all lust, or sexual desire which goes beyond the person to whom we are committed and love, is adultery. How often do we commit this sin? Jesus is not referring to us finding another person attractive, enchanting, handsome or beautiful; no, it’s desiring and wanting that person in a way that goes beyond the bounds of respect and admiration. Adultery of the heart, that is what we must beware of. As a celibate priest and monk, I know perfectly well what Jesus means and it needs self-control, discipline and prayer not to fall into that sin. I have yet to tear out my right eye, but there have been times when it might have been wiser to do so.
Jesus then touches on the subject of divorce. You can only wish he had said more. “It has also been said: Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a writ of dismissal. But I say this to you: everyone who divorces his wife, except for the case of fornication, makes her an adulteress; and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” Jesus takes a radical view of the sanctity of marriage. It’s important for a Christian not to dismiss the teaching of Jesus and, therefore, of the Church as being ‘out of date.’ One thing is divorce and another annulment, which is what the Catholic Church does accept, showing that there are marriages that were never true or valid marriages in the first place. This is not the place to discuss the details, but there is a lot of helpful literature you can read on the subject. It’s a good day to pray for marriages that are in difficulties.
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