CCC Cross Reference:
Ez 16 219; Ez 16 1611
Is 12:3 2561
Mt 19:1-12 2364; Mt 19:3-12 1620; Mt 19:3-9 2382; Mt 19:4 1652; Mt 19:6-12 2053; Mt 19:6 796, 1605, 1614, 1644, 2336, 2380; Mt 19:7-9 2382; Mt 19:8 1610, 1614; Mt 19:10 1615; Mt 19:11 1615; Mt 19:12 922, 1579, 1618
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The word of the LORD came to me:
Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations.
Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem:
By origin and birth you are of the land of Canaan;
your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
As for your birth, the day you were born your navel cord was not cut;
you were neither washed with water nor anointed,
nor were you rubbed with salt, nor swathed in swaddling clothes.
No one looked on you with pity or compassion
to do any of these things for you.
Rather, you were thrown out on the ground as something loathsome,
the day you were born.
Then I passed by and saw you weltering in your blood.
I said to you: Live in your blood and grow like a plant in the field.
You grew and developed, you came to the age of puberty;
your breasts were formed, your hair had grown,
but you were still stark naked.
Again I passed by you and saw that you were now old enough for love.
So I spread the corner of my cloak over you to cover your nakedness;
I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you;
you became mine, says the Lord GOD.
Then I bathed you with water, washed away your blood,
and anointed you with oil.
I clothed you with an embroidered gown,
put sandals of fine leather on your feet;
I gave you a fine linen sash and silk robes to wear.
I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms,
a necklace about your neck, a ring in your nose,
pendants in your ears, and a glorious diadem upon your head.
Thus you were adorned with gold and silver;
your garments were of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth.
Fine flour, honey, and oil were your food.
You were exceedingly beautiful, with the dignity of a queen.
You were renowned among the nations for your beauty, perfect as it was,
because of my splendor which I had bestowed on you,
says the Lord GOD.
But you were captivated by your own beauty,
you used your renown to make yourself a harlot,
and you lavished your harlotry on every passer-by,
whose own you became.
Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were a girl,
and I will set up an everlasting covenant with you,
that you may remember and be covered with confusion,
and that you may be utterly silenced for shame
when I pardon you for all you have done, says the Lord GOD.
Or
Shorter Form: Ez 16:59-63
Thus says the LORD:
I will deal with you according to what you have done,
you who despised your oath, breaking a covenant.
Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were a girl,
and I will set up an everlasting covenant with you.
Then you shall remember your conduct and be ashamed
when I take your sisters, those older and younger than you,
and give them to you as daughters,
even though I am not bound by my covenant with you.
For I will re-establish my covenant with you,
that you may know that I am the LORD,
that you may remember and be covered with confusion,
and that you may be utterly silenced for shame
when I pardon you for all you have done, says the Lord GOD.
Responsorial Psalm: Isaiah 12:2-3, 4bcd, 5-6
R. (1c) You have turned from your anger.
God indeed is my savior;
I am confident and unafraid.
My strength and my courage is the LORD,
and he has been my savior.
With joy you will draw water
at the fountain of salvation.
R. You have turned from your anger.
Give thanks to the LORD, acclaim his name;
among the nations make known his deeds,
proclaim how exalted is his name.
R. You have turned from your anger.
Sing praise to the LORD for his glorious achievement;
let this be known throughout all the earth.
Shout with exultation, O city of Zion,
for great in your midst
is the Holy One of Israel!
R. You have turned from your anger.
Gospel: Mt 19:3-12
Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying,
“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?”
He said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning
the Creator made them male and female and said,
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, man must not separate.”
They said to him, “Then why did Moses command
that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss her?”
He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts
Moses allowed you to divorce your wives,
but from the beginning it was not so.
I say to you, whoever divorces his wife
(unless the marriage is unlawful)
and marries another commits adultery.”
His disciples said to him,
“If that is the case of a man with his wife,
it is better not to marry.”
He answered, “Not all can accept this word,
but only those to whom that is granted.
Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so;
some, because they were made so by others;
some, because they have renounced marriage
for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven.
Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
First reading: Ezekiel 16:1-15,60,63
The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows, ‘Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her filthy crimes. Say, “The Lord says this: By origin and birth you belong to the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. At birth, the very day you were born, there was no one to cut your navel-string, or wash you in cleansing water, or rub you with salt, or wrap you in napkins. No one leaned kindly over you to do anything like that for you. You were exposed in the open fields; you were as unloved as that on the day you were born.
‘“I saw you struggling in your blood as I was passing, and I said to you as you lay in your blood: Live, and grow like the grass of the fields. You developed, you grew, you reached marriageable age. Your breasts and your hair both grew, but you were quite naked. Then I saw you as I was passing. Your time had come, the time for love. I spread part of my cloak over you and covered your nakedness; I bound myself by oath, I made a covenant with you – it is the Lord who speaks – and you became mine. I bathed you in water, I washed the blood off you, I anointed you with oil. I gave you embroidered dresses, fine leather shoes, a linen headband and a cloak of silk. I loaded you with jewels, gave you bracelets for your wrists and a necklace for your throat. I gave you nose-ring and earrings; I put a beautiful diadem on your head. You were loaded with gold and silver, and dressed in fine linen and embroidered silks. Your food was the finest flour, honey and oil. You grew more and more beautiful; and you rose to be queen. The fame of your beauty spread through the nations, since it was perfect, because I had clothed you with my own splendor – it is the Lord who speaks.
‘“You have become infatuated with your own beauty; you have used your fame to make yourself a prostitute; you have offered your services to all comers. But I will remember the covenant that I made with you when you were a girl, and I will conclude a covenant with you that shall last for ever. And so remember and be covered with shame, and in your confusion be reduced to silence, when I have pardoned you for all that you have done – it is the Lord who speaks.”’
Alternative first reading Ezekiel 16:59-63
The Lord says this: ‘Jerusalem, I will treat you as you deserve, you who have despised your oath even to the extent of breaking a covenant, but I will remember the covenant that I made with you when you were a girl, and I will conclude a covenant with you that shall last for ever. And you for your part will remember your past behavior and be covered with shame when I take your elder and younger sisters and make them your daughters, although that was not included in this covenant. I am going to renew my covenant with you; and you will learn that I am the Lord, and so so remember and be covered with shame, and in your confusion be reduced to silence, when I have pardoned you for all that you have done – it is the Lord who speaks.’
Responsorial Psalm:
Isaiah 12
Your anger has passed, O Lord, and you give me comfort.
Truly, God is my salvation,
I trust, I shall not fear.
For the Lord is my strength, my song,
he became my saviour.
With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.
Your anger has passed, O Lord, and you give me comfort.
Give thanks to the Lord, give praise to his name!
Make his mighty deeds known to the peoples!
Declare the greatness of his name.
Your anger has passed, O Lord, and you give me comfort.
Sing a psalm to the Lord
for he has done glorious deeds;
make them known to all the earth!
People of Zion, sing and shout for joy,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
Your anger has passed, O Lord, and you give me comfort.
Gospel Matthew 19:3-12
Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and to test him they said, ‘Is it against the Law for a man to divorce his wife on any pretext whatever?’ He answered, ‘Have you not read that the creator from the beginning made them male and female and that he said: This is why a man must leave father and mother, and cling to his wife, and the two become one body? They are no longer two, therefore, but one body. So then, what God has united, man must not divide.’
They said to him, ‘Then why did Moses command that a writ of dismissal should be given in cases of divorce?’ ‘It was because you were so unteachable’ he said ‘that Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but it was not like this from the beginning. Now I say this to you: the man who divorces his wife – I am not speaking of fornication – and marries another, is guilty of adultery.’
The disciples said to him, ‘If that is how things are between husband and wife, it is not advisable to marry.’ But he replied, ‘It is not everyone who can accept what I have said, but only those to whom it is granted. There are eunuchs born that way from their mother’s womb, there are eunuchs made so by men and there are eunuchs who have made themselves that way for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can.’
Readings and Commentary from the Navarre Bible
Friday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time
From: Ezekiel 16:1-15, 60, 63
Jerusalem, the unfaithful wife
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[1] Again the word of the LORD came to me: [2] "Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, [3] and say, Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite. [4] And as for your birth, on the day you were born your navel string was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor swathed with bands. [5] No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you; but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born.
[6] "And when I passed by you, and saw you weltering in your blood, I said to you in your blood, 'Live, [7] and grow up like a plant of the field.' And you grew up and became tall and arrived at full maidenhood; your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare.
[8] "When I passed by you again and looked upon you, behold, you were at the age for love; and I spread my skirt over you, and covered your nakedness: yea, I plighted my troth to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord GOD, and you became mine. [9] Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you, and anointed you with oil. [10] I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with leather, I swathed you in fine linen and covered you with silk. [11] And I decked you with ornaments, and put bracelets on your arms, and a chain on your neck. [12] And I put a ring on your nose, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head. [13] Thus you were decked with gold and silver; and your raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered cloth; you ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful, and came to regal estate. [14] And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor which I had bestowed upon you, says the Lord GOD. [15] "But you trusted in your beauty, and played the harlot because of your renown, and lavished your harlotries on any passer-by.
[60] [Y]et I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you an everlasting covenant. [63] that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I forgive you all that you have done, says the Lord GOD."
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Commentary:
16:1-19:14. In these chapters Ezekiel announces the sentence passed on Israel and Judah on account of the transgressions and sins they have been piling up. He does this by imagining a formal trial (rib) in which the charges are described by a series of allegories. First there is the story of the unfaithful and evil wife, who stands for Israel (chap. 16); then comes the allegory of the eagles, symbolizing the deportation: Nebuchadnezzar seems to destroy everything before him, but the Lord comes on the scene and sets about reassembling the broken pieces (chap. 17); thirdly, the metaphor of the father and son is used to reiterate teaching about personal responsibility (chap. 18); thirdly, the metaphor of the father and son is used to reiterate teaching about personal responsibility (chap. 18); and finally, comes the allegory of the lioness and her cubs -- a lament over the plight of the Exiles in Babylon (chap. 19).
16:1-43. The prophet Hosea was the first to use the metaphor of the wanton wife to charge Israel with her infidelity (Hos 1-3); Jeremiah uses the imagery of marriage to describe the Covenant and how Israel came to break it (Jer 2:2). Ezekiel, here and in chapters 20 and 23, is the one who develops the metaphor most. The wife is Jerusalem, depicted with negative features from her birth onwards (vv. 1-5) and then completely transformed into the most beautiful of princesses (vv. 6-14). However, she proved unfaithful and committed the most vile sins of adultery with the empires round about (vv. 15-34). All this, a mixture of fact and metaphor, paves the way for the sentence that must be passed: "I will judge you as women who break wedlock" (v. 38); she will become the prey of the nations that she adulated (vv. 35-41). But the end is not destruction (vv. 42-43), as one would have expected; it is the start of a new phase (cf. 16:59-63). Ezekiel, who is addressing the exiles, once again opens the door to hope in an ultimate restoration (vv. 42-43).
16:1-5. "Your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite" (v. 3). Jerusalem had, in fact, belonged to the Canaanites until David conquered it; these would have included the Amorites, a Semitic people (cf. Num 21:13), and the Hittites, who had come from Asia Minor (cf. Gen 23:16). Ezekiel is not so much concerned about historical accuracy (cf. Deut 7:1 and par.) as in pointing out the pagan origins of the holy city, to make it clear that all its qualities and all its dignity derive solely from the Lord. The practices mentioned in v. 4 were ancient customs to do with the care of newborn babies. The point being made is that in addition to having an obscure origin, Jerusalem began life utterly alone.
16:6-34. The charge of infidelity against Jerusalem lies in the endowments it received from God (vv. 6-14) and its history of wickedness -- evidence of the fact that it has persistently abused God's gifts (vv. 15-34). Although the charge has historical basis, the passage is not meant to be a detailed catalogue; the point being made is that the city had a history of sin and infidelity.
"I passed by you" (v. 6): when God passes by, he brings salvation; here he turns an abandoned child into the most beautiful of women, the envy of all her peers. St John of the Cross will apply this to what happens when the Lord passes by the soul ("Spiritual Canticle", 23, 6) and the things said here help us to see the relationship between the soul and God as a love story. St Thérèse of Lisieux mentions Ezekiel in this connexion: "I was at the most troubling age for girls. But the Lord passed by, and did for me as he said he would do, in the words of the prophet Ezekiel: 'When he passed by me, Jesus saw that I was at the age for love. He pledged his troth to me, and I became his … He wrapped his cloak about me, and anointed me with perfume; he dressed me in embroidered cloth and silk, and gave me gold and silver and precious jewels to wear ... He gave me fine flour and honey and oil to eat ... and I grew more and more beautiful, until I was like a queen ...' (cf. Ezek 16:6-13). Jesus did all these things for me. I could repeat, again, all the words that I have just written, and show how he has fulfilled each, one by one, in me. But all the graces that I have referred to elsewhere are proof enough" ("Autobiographical Writings", 5, 47, r).
"You trusted in your beauty, and played the harlot" (v. 15): breaking away from God, particularly the sin of idolatry, was called prostitution by the prophets who used marriage as a metaphor for the Covenant (cf. Hos 2:18-25; Jer 2:2-3). Ezekiel accentuates the features of this sin by pointing out that, instead of being paid for her harlotry, Jerusalem took the initiative: she gave herself over to her lovers, that is, other gods, and, worse still, presented to them the finery that the Lord had bestowed on her (v. 33): that was how Jerusalem behaved towards Egypt (v. 26), Assyria (v. 28) and Babylon (v. 29). The prophet shows that, since Jerusalem's history could not have been worse, it would be difficult to devise a punishment fitted to such a crime. However, while spelling out the whole charge, Ezekiel is able to see the wonderful rehabilitation that will take place once her punishment is over.
Some of the things he says have been read as a prophecy about Christ: "The Daughter of Sion did not repay the Lord for the gifts she received from his bounty. The Father washed her clean with his blood; she covered his son with spittle. He dressed her in the purple robes of kings; she wrapped him in a rag woven from jibes and jeers. He crowned her with glory; she crowned him with thorns. He gave her milk and honey to eat; she gave him gall to drink. He poured out pure wine for her; she handed him a sponge dipped in vinegar. He made her welcome in his cities; she cast him out into the wilderness. He clothed her feet in sandals; she made him limp barefoot to Golgotha. He gave her a sapphire brooch to wear on her breast; she pierced his side with a spear. When she committed outrages against the servants of God and killed the prophets, and endured exile in Babylon as a punishment, he led her home to freedom when the day of her chastisement was ended" (St Ephraem of Nisibi, "Commentarii in Diatessaron", 18, 1).
Pseudo-Macanus, for his part, applies this text of Ezekiel to every Christian soul that has been unfaithful to divine grace. After quoting and making a précis of 16: 6-15, he exclaims: "Thus does the Spirit reprove the soul who, by his grace, had come to know God; the soul who had been forgiven all his past sins, and adorned with the precious gifts of the Holy Spirit, and given divine and heavenly food to eat; the soul who, in spite of his knowledge of the Lord, turned his back on righteous living, and was cast out of the life in which he had once rejoiced because his deeds were not just, and he was judged lacking in love for Christ, his heavenly spouse" ("Homiliae spirituals", 15, 4).
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From: Ezekiel 16:59-63
Forgiveness and the Covenant
--------------------------------------------
[59] "Yea, thus says the Lord GOD: I will deal with you as you have done, who
have despised the oath in breaking the covenant, [60] yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you an everlasting covenant. [61] Then you will remember your ways, and be ashamed when I take your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and give them to you as daughters, but not on account of the covenant with you. [62] I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD, [63] that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I forgive you all that you have done, says the Lord GOD."
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Commentary:
16:59-63. A promise of eventual restoration underlay the previous allegories. In these verses the prophet concentrates on assuring his people that the Lord will establish an everlasting Covenant (v. 60) with the city once she has been cleansed by chastisement. Ezekiel is the prophet who most clearly explains the cleansing effects of the exile. And what he says here is valid also for the Christian soul: "When we sin, we are weighed down with shame and confusion: let us ask God from the bottom of our hearts to give us the grace and strength to struggle to the end, to live in accordance with the truth with all the powers of our soul and body. And if our faith is put to the test -- for just as gold is tried in a furnace, the mettle of our souls is tested through temptations and persecutions -- may the occasion find us prepared for battle [...], for by our preparation and our struggle we prove the love we have for God in Christ Jesus" (Origen, "Homiliae in Ezechielem", 10, 5).
"I will remember my covenant" (v. 60): the play on words -- "remember the covenant", "remember your ways" (v. 61) -- reinforces the message about forgiveness: when the people remember what they have done, they feel ashamed; the Lord takes the initiative, forgives them, renews the Covenant and, as a result, the people acknowledge their sins and repent. The same process is to be seen in the parable of the prodigal son, in which the father forgives his son prior to hearing him repent (Lk 15:11-32), though Jesus puts the emphasis more on the nature of fatherhood than on the Covenant, and more on the individual than on the people as a whole.
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From: Matthew 19:3-12
Marriage and Virginity
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[3] And Pharisees came up to Him (Jesus) and tested Him by asking, "Is it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?" [4] He answered, "Have you not read that He who made them from the beginning made them male and female, [5] and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one'? [6] So they are no longer two but one. What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder." [7] They said to Him, "Why then did Moses command one to give a certificate of divorce, and to put her away?" [8] He said to them, "For your hardness of heart Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. [9] And I say to you: whoever divorces his wife, except for unchastity, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries a divorced woman commits adultery."
[10] The disciples said to Him, "If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry." [11] But He said to them, "Not all men can receive this precept, but only those to whom it is given. [12] For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it."
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Commentary:
4-5. "Marriage and married love are by nature ordered to the procreation and education of children. Indeed children are the supreme gift of marriage and greatly contribute to the good of the parents themselves. God Himself said: 'It is not good that man should be alone' (Genesis 2:18), and 'from the beginning (He) made them male and female' (Matthew 19:4); wishing to associate them in a special way with his own creative work, God blessed man and woman with the words: 'Be fruitful and multiply' (Genesis 1:28). Without intending to underestimate the other ends of marriage, it must be said that true married life and the whole structure of family life which results from it is directed to disposing the spouses to cooperate valiantly with the love of the Creator and Savior, who through them will increase and enrich His family from day to day" (Vatican II, "Gaudium Et Spes", 50).
9. Our Lord's teaching on the unity and indissolubility of marriage is the main theme of this passage, apropos of which St. John Chrysostom comments that marriage is a lifelong union of man and woman (cf. "Hom. on St. Matthew", 62). On the meaning of "except for unchastity", see the note on Matthew 5:31-32).
11. "Not all men can receive this precept": our Lord is fully aware that the demands involved in His teaching on marriage and His recommendation of celibacy practised out of love of God run counter to human selfishness. That is why He says that acceptance of this teaching is a gift from God.
12. Our Lord speaks figuratively here, referring to those who, out of love for Him, renounce marriage and offer their lives completely to Him. Virginity embraced for the love of God is one of the Church's most precious charisms (cf. 1 Corinthians 7); the lives of those who practise virginity evoke the state of the blessed in Heaven, who are like the angels (cf. Matthew 22:30). This is why the Church's Magisterium teaches that the state of virginity for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven is higher than the married state (cf. Council of Trent, "De Sacram. Matr.", can. 10; cf. also Pius XII, "Sacra Virginitas"). On virginity and celibacy the Second Vatican Council teaches: "The Church's holiness is also fostered in a special way by the manifold counsels which the Lord proposes to His disciples in the Gospel for them to observe. Towering among these counsels is that precious gift of divine grace given to some by the Father (cf. Matthew 19:11; 1 Corinthians 7:7) to devote themselves to God alone more easily in virginity or celibacy [...]. This perfect continence for love of the Kingdom of Heaven has always been held in high esteem by the Church as a sign and stimulus of love, and as a singular source of spiritual fertility in the world" ("Lumen Gentium", 42; cf. "Perfectae Caritatis", 12). And, on celibacy specifically, see Vatican II's "Presbyterorum Ordinis", 16 and "Optatam Totius", 10.
However, both virginity and marriage are necessary for the growth of the Church, and both imply a specific calling from God: "Celibacy is precisely a gift of the Spirit. A similar though different gift is contained in the vocation to true and faithful married love, directed towards procreation according to the flesh, in the very lofty context of the sacrament of Matrimony. It is obvious that this gift is fundamental for the building up of the great community of the Church, the people of God. But if this community wishes to respond fully to its vocation in Jesus Christ, there will also have to be realized in it, in the correct proportion, that other gift, the gift of celibacy 'for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven'" (Bl. John Paul II, "Letter To All Priests", 1979).
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Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.
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