October 7, 2012: 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time

The Pharisees approached Jesus 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 a husband 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 Jesus 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. (Mark 10:2-16)

Reflection:

This gospel is almost two different readings in one.
But let’s focus on the second part and see Jesus as people are bringing children to him and asking him to touch them. The mothers and fathers who were doing this knew that Jesus was somehow a special person and they wanted their child to be close to him, to be touched by him, to be blessed by him.

Action:

Take some time to ask yourself how you touch Jesus–how you ask Jesus to touch you.
Do you do it by praying to him? Do you have a special place that you pray, or a special way that you pray?
When you pray do you talk with Jesus in your own words, or do you use words from prayers that you know?
Do you pray to Jesus every day?
These are questions that you might want to think about because they say something about your relationship with Jesus.