B. Human Situation
• The Catholic Church has always been consistent on its stand on the issue of divorce since time immemorial
• Today, the Philippines is the only country where divorce is not allowed standing proud but this is already shaken with some of our technocrats introducing the bill of divorce through the RH Bill
• The prohibition of divorce ensures a safety net that protects the dignity of the sacrament of marriage and the family
• Because married couples even within marriage could still fall in love for another man or another woman other than their husband or wife out of human weakness
• This is to keep the married couples from changing partners at will rather than stick to one through thick and thin
• This is also to protect the children from harm and danger who will be the innocent victims of a marital fallout. We have to understand the pains of separation that certainly shatters the stability of a home
• The prohibition of divorce is actually a protection for married couples against human weakness in order to maintain the sanctity of marriage and the family
• The Church knows very well and it anticipates that if divorce be allowed, hell can surely break loose because there will always be abuses and excesses of it as western societies have already taught us
• In Juarez, El Paso, Mexico, you are married today, the next day you are free. The famous Mexican divorce. Divorce can be obtained as fast as changing your clothes
• Marriage has become a game of luck. You marry and marry again, you divorce and divorce again and try a lot more until you win the jackpot
• Where is now the sanctity of marriage? Where is its very purpose of union and love and companionship in procreation in order to generate children and to ensure the continuity of the human race?
• Of course, the Church understands that not all marriages are made in heaven. And a lot of marriages simply just do not work
• Cases of a battered wife of a violent husband cannot just stay forever bruised in her entire life within a marriage!
• A tortured husband cannot stay forever joined to an irresponsible and nagging wife!
• Situations like these could turn a home into a hotbed of hate and anger. This is unfortunate and the Church understands this and all other similar situations that exist in a home
• That is why there is also a leeway in it and the Church allows annulment exercising utmost prudence in its judgment
• Divorce is legal separation, Annulment means there has never been any marriage from the very beginning because of the presence of impediments
• That is why the period of courtship is very important so that a man and a woman could find the right partner that he or she will have to live with and contend with in the entirety of their life. And this requires prayer and reflection and long periods of discernment
• Divorce will be out of the question if the man and the woman finds the right partner
• Today however, the issue of divorce is watered down because sex is no longer done within the confines of marriage
• The truth is that sexual relation is only favorable in the eyes of the Church within the confines of marriage. Sex outside of marriage is either adulterous for married couples and fornication for unmarried men and women
• Sexual promiscuity is the style of the day. This is because of the prevailing principles in philosophy that give so much emphasis on the self, on the freedom and liberty of the individual
• Expressions like I have the right to enjoy, the right to be happy and so on. Pro-choice people would even say that a woman has a right to terminate the unborn because she has the right to her own body
• This is also about the philosophy of hedonism where the right to pleasure is in its maximum. We now live in a hedonistic society where the only thing that counts is pleasure
• Why do you need marriage when sex can be as easy as buying medicines in the counter!
• Sexual promiscuity necessitates abortion because the partners are not ready for responsibility. It is simply sex for pleasure with the absence of responsibility. So sexual promiscuity is freedom from responsibility
• And abortion is the necessary consequence because partners are not ready for the gift of life, the door to new life is shut off even before it develops
• So you see, with sexual promiscuity human beings could not even be conceived, and if they are, they are terminated. This is plain selfishness because it blocks access to the gift of life to the unborn
• Of course sexual promiscuity already includes the spread of diseases previously unknown to the human race
• Governments in the world have miserably failed to control the spread of the dreaded AIDS disease despite the massive promotion on the use of prophylactics
• The better way is to promote the virtue of chastity, marital fidelity, and sexual purity. A lot of young people male or female are signing up making a promise to postpone sex until their wedding day