Today’s epistle reading is from St. Paul’s letter to the Hebrews, chapter five, verse 11, through chapter six, verse eight:

...of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put him to an open shame. For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.

St. Clement of Alexandria has much to say about learning the deep things of God. He writes:

Just as we say that it is possible to have faith without being literate, so we assert that it is not possible to understand the statements contained in the faith without study. To assimilate the right affirmations and reject the rest is not the product of simple faith but of faith engaged in learning. Ignorance involves a lack of education and learning. It is teaching that implants in us the scientific knowledge of things divine and human. It is possible to live uprightly in poverty; it is also possible in wealth. We admit that it is easier and quicker to track down virtue if we have a preliminary education. It can be hunted down without these aids, although even then those with learning with their faculties trained by practice have an advantage.

Today’s gospel reading is from St. Mark, chapter 10, verses two through 12.

The Pharisees came and asked him, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” testing him. And he answered and said to them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce, and to dismiss her.” And Jesus answered and said to them, “Because of the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the 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 then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” In the house his disciples also asked Him again about the same matter. So he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus speaks of the indissolubility of marriage, and he does this by speaking about the consequences of divorce. The Blessed Augustine writes:

For a woman is bound as long as her husband is alive. As a consequence therefore, the husband is also bound, as long as his wife is alive. This bond renders any further union impossible without the implication of adultery. Hence, four adulterers are produced of necessity of the two marriages, if the wife remarries and the husband remarries an adulteress. However, a more infamous adultery is imputed to the one who remarries after the dismissal of his wife for other than the cause of fornication. Matthew spoke of this type of adultery. Such a one is not the only one who commits adultery but, as we read in Mark, “Whoever puts away his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if the wife puts away her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us: to him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.