Men's Rosary

Life is full of relationships. The question is, “how do we relate?”. It seems obvious that sometimes it is not very good. Too often, most rely on social media, texting and email! But relationships are of a human nature.

I think the purest form of this is when two young toddlers meet. It is all about the other. Each totally focused on the person in front of them. They are not distracted, and they seem to love each other for who they are.

There are many articles and videos discussing the degradation of relationships and how we need to unplug and be more present, etc. However, I would posit that it all rests on our relationship with Christ.

We can only be to someone or something as good as we are equipped to be. It is not possible to give something we do not have. So, our prayer life will bring us closer to God and living a Christ-like life. It will fill us with Christ’s love and give us the tools to relate. We are called to love as Christ loves. It was given by Christ as the Greatest commandment. “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law? And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.”” (Matthew 22:36-40)

Christ shows us how to love. We are to imitate Him. How are we doing with that? Are we seeking help from Christ in prayer? Are we reflecting on his life in scripture? If we do not have right relationship with God we cannot expect to have healthy and fruitful relationships anywhere. Let us love each other for who we are, brothers and sisters in Christ. Let Christ guide all our relationships and in so doing bring Him to others.

“We must imitate Christ’s life and his ways if we are to be truly enlightened and set free from the darkness of our own hearts. Let it be the most important thing we do, then, to reflect on the life of Jesus Christ” (Thomas Kempis)