Joshua 24:1-13 / Matthew 19:3-12
History is important in that it recalls past events that involved the lives of people.
Although history is about the past, it is nonetheless a factual reality and not some fiction or imagination.
History also reminds us of our origins, the way we were and how much we have progressed and developed.
In the 1st reading, the Israelites had just crossed into the Promised Land but God wanted them to look back at their past and their journey to the present.
The words of God are very profound: This is not the work of your sword or your bow. I gave you a land where you never toiled, you lived in towns you never built, you eat now from vineyards and olive groves you never planted.
Indeed, as the Israelites looked at their past, they can only give thanks for their present.
And so must we. And so must married couples too.
Married couples need to reflect on how God brought them together and how they fell in love and decided to commit themselves to a life-long commitment of love.
As Jesus taught us in the gospel, married couples are no longer two but one body, and what God has united, man must not divide.
Similarly with us. God has called us to be His Chosen people.
May we never cause division and separate ourselves from God.