Today’s readings focus on relationships and what God intends relationships to be like. We all have many relationships; with God, with our spouse if we’re married, with our children if we’ve been blessed with kids, with our friends and co-workers, with our parishioners, etc. God is love; the loving relationship that God the Father has with God the Son and God the Spirit is so powerful and perfect that all of creation flowed from it. In the first reading, we hear God’s intention that man and woman should be equal partners in a loving relationship; the psalm teaches us that abundant blessings flow from being in the right relationship with God. The last portion of the Gospel describes that “right relationship” as similar to a child with his/her parents; unconditional love, trust, and obedience. In the second reading, St. Paul tells us that God so wanted to restore humanity’s relationship with Him that Jesus lowered Himself to become human and to suffer and die a horrible death to restore mankind’s relationship with God. And in the Gospel, Jesus speaks to divorce, making it clear that divorce was never God’s intention for us. But we humans are sinful, and often we fail to live up to God’s plans for us. We don’t have to look far to see broken relationships: divorces, trouble in the workplace, broken friendships, family members who refuse to speak to each other. I’m sure all of us can identify with broken relationships in our lives. The good news is that God loves us despite our failings, and He’s always there to offer forgiveness and the grace to improve upon our failings. Returning to the lesson of the psalm, the most important relationship we can have is with God. Improving that relationship will do wonders for other relationships in need of healing.
Reflection by parishioner John Ceglarek