The world of Today and Reality

Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J. Of all the seven sacraments, Matrimony has been the most widely challenged in the history of the Catholic Church. It has also been the main cause of disunity in Christianity. We know this from the classic narrative described by St. Matthew when some Pharisees came to test Jesus by asking, “‘Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for any cause?’ But He answered and said to them, ‘Have you not read that the Creator, from the beginning, made them male and female, and said, “For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”? Therefore now they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder.’ They said to Him, ‘Why then did Moses command to give a written notice of dismissal, and to put her away?’ He said to them, ‘Because Moses, by reason of the hardness of your heart, permitted you to put away your wives; but it was not so from the beginning. An