Gospel (Mk 10,1-12) - At that time, Jesus, having left Capernaum, came to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan River. The crowds flocked to him again, and again he taught them, as he was wont to do. Some Pharisees approached and, to test him, asked Jesus whether it is lawful for a husband to divorce his wife. But he answered them, "What did Moses command you?" They said, “Moses allowed a bill of divorcement to be written and to be repudiated.” Jesus said to them: «Because of the hardness of your hearts he wrote this rule for you. But from the beginning of creation [God] made them male and female; for this reason the man will leave his father and his mother and will be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh. Thus they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, let not man divide what God has joined together." At home, the disciples questioned him again about this matter. And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she, having repudiated her husband, marries another, she commits adultery."

The commentary on the Gospel by Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia

A new section of the Gospel of Mark begins. The journey to Jerusalem continues and the evangelist brings the group to the region of Judea and the territory east of the Jordan. Jesus, always surrounded by a large crowd, deals with some important issues for the life of the Christian community. The first concerns marriage and the command for spouses to be faithful for life. Jesus affirms the indissolubility of marriage by referring to God's original plan. The Law of Moses had allowed man the bill of divorce even if the man "found something shameful in her". According to Jesus this rule is only a concession to man's insensitivity. It is not simply a matter of reiterating an abstract principle, but rather of making people understand the urgency of love, fidelity, mutual understanding and also forgiveness and the ability to know how to accompany each other in life. These words also help us to understand that the love between a man and a woman cannot be the fruit of just a feeling, but must be based on a project of love that means fidelity and construction. It is not uncommon to hear that a stable marriage and family would no longer fit the times we live in. For those who are younger it seems particularly difficult to imagine a definitive and exclusive love for a lifetime. Jesus in the Gospel, while recalling that faithfulness is the profound desire that God has written in every heart, also calls us to learn to love and to make some effort so that the union of a family is stable and strong, in the image of the love of Lord for all humanity and for the Church.