James 5:9-12 / Mark 10:1-12
There is a video clip of Pope Francis giving a speech to married couples on Valentine's Day. That video clip has gone viral because he cracked some jokes in it.
But he actually began on a typical preaching note. He said that we all know that there is no such thing as a perfect family, or a perfect husband or a perfect wife. Then his jokes began.
But jokes aside, what the Pope said is so true but not so easily accepted or understood.
Because we want others to live up to our expected perfections. And this happens in community, in family and to married couples.
In the gospel, when the Pharisees questioned Jesus about marriage and divorce, He brought in the very fundamental teaching that in the beginning of creation, God made them male and female, and that what God has united, man must not divide.
Yet Jesus did not say that it will be happily ever after. Just as there is no perfect family, perfect husband or perfect wife, it merely goes to show that no one is perfect.
And because no one is perfect, then what the 1st reading said must apply to everyone who has come to realize that.
It said: Do not make complaints against one another, so as not to be brought to judgement yourselves.
That is so true but not so easy to do. Truth lies not in lofty profound matters but in ordinary day-to-day encounters and relationships.
When we understand that no one is perfect, then we will be less likely to complain and judge and more open in accepting and understanding each other.