Divortium et Matrimonium Iterum

Amici,

There has been a lot of discussion in the Catholic blogosphere about the reception of the Eucharist by those who are divorced and remarried. This post is intended to clarify the issue.

In Matthew 19:1-12 the Pharisees came to ask Jesus about this issue. Jesus clearly stated that Moses allowed divorce and remarriage because of the hardness of people's heart. Additionally, Jesus stated that anyone who divorces and remarries another commits adultery which is a mortal sin.

St. Paul in 1st Corinthians 11:27-32 stated that anyone who eats Jesus' body or drinks His blood unworthily (i.e., in a state of mortal sin) eats and drinks damnation to himself. That means that anyone who is divorced and remarried may NOT receive Holy Communion because he or she is in a state of mortal sin, that of adultery.

Now there are two caveats to this. The first caveat goes as follows. IF a man has remarried after divorce AND does NOT engage in conjugal relations, THEN that man is NOT committing adultery AND after Confession he may receive the Holy Eucharist. But IF he is NOT refraining from conjugal action, THEN he is committing adultery AND under that circumstance it is impermissible for him to receive to the Holy Eucharist.

The second caveat goes as follows. IF a man has divorced and is remarried sacramentally, AND his first marriage is null (i.e., the Church has declared the first marriage is null - this is called annulment), THEN after Confession he may receive the Holy Eucharist even while engaging in conjugal relations with his second wife. This is because there was in effect NO first marriage, AND she to whom he is now married is NOT his SECOND wife BUT really his FIRST wife. That is what a declaration of nullity means.

All of this applies equally to the woman who is divorced and remarried. As St Paul explains in Galatians 3:28, there is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, for the same rules apply to everyone without discrimination. God does not show partiality as Romans 2:11 states.

This is very different from what the law of Moses permitted because of the hardness of people's hearts. That Law allowed a man to send his wife away in divorce to fend for herself as best she could in the desert, and never allowed the woman any recourse. Recall that the Law of Moses was given when the Children of Israel were wandering in the desert, and Israel being a very Patriarchal society gave all authority to the man with no rights to the woman. So when Pope Francis accuses those who oppose divorce and remarriage of sitting in Moses' seat and being unmerciful, he is actually supporting what is just the opposite of what merciful Jesus clearly stated. Jesus was demanding that husbands and wives work out their differences and act like responsible adults for the good the children whom they brought into the world. Jesus opposed sending a woman away in divorce to fend for herself, and leaving the children either fatherless or motherless, depending on with whom they would be remaining. Jesus demanded real mercy, and real mercy is while simple a very difficult thing to do.