"They are no longer two but one flesh" Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 10:2-16.

Book of Genesis 2:18-24. 

The LORD God said:  "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him."
So the LORD God formed out of the ground various wild animals and various birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each of them would be its name.
The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man.
So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.
The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man,
the man said: "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called 'woman,' for out of 'her man' this one has been taken."
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body.



Psalms 128(127):1-2.3.4-5.6. 

Blessed are you who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways!
For you shall eat the fruit of your handiwork;

blessed shall you be, and favored.
Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine
in the recesses of your home;

Your children like olive plants
around your table.
Behold, thus is the man blessed

who fears the LORD.
The LORD bless you from Zion:
may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem

all the days of your life.
May you see your children's children.
Peace be upon Israel!




Letter to the Hebrews 2:9-11. 

But we do see Jesus "crowned with glory and honor" because he suffered death, he who "for a little while" was made "lower than the angels," that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
For it was fitting that he, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the leader to their salvation perfect through suffering.
He who consecrates and those who are being consecrated all have one origin. Therefore, he is not ashamed to call them "brothers,"

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 10:2-16. 

The Pharisees approached and asked, "Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?" They were testing him.
He said to them in reply, "What did Moses command you?"
They replied, "Moses permitted him to write a bill of divorce and dismiss her."
But Jesus told them, "Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote you this commandment.
But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.
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, no human being must separate."
In the house the disciples again questioned him about this.
He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her;
and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."
And people were bringing children to him that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them.
When Jesus saw this he became indignant and said to them, "Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it."
Then he embraced them and blessed them, placing his hands on them.

"They are no longer two but one flesh"

« What God has joined together, man should not separate. » This expression “sums up the essential greatness of marriage and, at the same time, the moral intensity of family life.” Today we wish the same greatness and dignity for all married couples of the world; we wish the same sacramental intensity and moral integrity for all families. And we ask this for the good of humankind! For the good of each person. The human person has no other way towards humanity except through the family. And the family itself should be at the very basis of every effort so that our human world might become ever more human. No one can run away from this concern: no society, no people, no system; neither the State nor the Church nor even the individual.

The love that unites a man and a woman both as married couple and as parents is both gift and commandment…: “You shall love...” (Mt 22:37-39). To obey the love commandment means to accomplish every obligation of a christian family. At the end of the day, everything is reduced to this: marital fidelity and probity, responsible fatherhood and education. The “little church” – the domestic Church – refers to a family living in the spirit of the love commandment: its interior truth, daily effort, spiritual beauty and strength… If God is loved before all other things then the person is loving and is loved with all available plenitude of love. If this inseparable structure, of which Christ’s commandment speaks, is destroyed then our love will be detached from its deepest roots, it will lose its roots of plenitude and truth essential to it. We pray for all christian families, all families in the world, that this plenitude and truth of love may be granted to them as Christ’s commandment indicates.