We Are Made For Relationship

“We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death.”

1 John 3:14

There is so much division in the world today. It was actually all there before, but through this pandemic it has been brought to the forefront and heightened. As the world spirals about by focusing on our differences and who is right and who is wrong, we must remember that there is always a calm in the eye of the storm. This is where the Holy Spirit is calling each one of us. To remain in the eye of the storm. Jesus Christ is the keeper of the storm. There would be no storm if God willed it to cease, but for our own benefit, the Lord is allowing this storm. So we must humble ourselves to be able to learn from it and be transformed.

The obvious division can be seen each time we turn on the news, but the more hidden, and I dare say the more detrimental division is found amongst friends, families, and communities. In these less likely places is where the enemy is really tricking good hearted people into believing his lies, which instill fear, despair, hopelessness, anxiety, darkness, guilt, shame, condemnation, worry, restlessness, etc. The Lord does not want any of these emotions to lead us in our daily lives. The Lord desires that we stand in His Love. We were made to stand in His Grace and to live from that place of Divine Love. All of the lies from the enemy, in one way or another, are an attempt at getting us to not live Love.

If we take a huge step back and try to look at this tactic of the enemy, how he is working to divide our families, our friendships, our communities, we can see how we are being led to remaining alone, to hide, to keep quiet, to question everything, to not be able to make decisions, to allow it to cloud our judgment, to prevent us from being in contact with one another, and to ultimately get us to miss the present moment due to our constant worry about the unknown. These mental mind-games that the enemy is attacking us all with must be brought to the light. They must be exposed in order for us to see them for what they are and to let the Light of Christ dispel the darkness.

The truth is, we were made for relationship. It is how we were created. Adam was created by God as the first and only human being and then the Lord recognized “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner” Genesis 2:18. Then God created the animals and He asked Adam to name them, but when he was finished it was still a loss for man, “The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner.” Genesis 2:20. Then God created Eve and Adam proclaimed, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.” Genesis 2:23. Another human being was the only suitable partner and helper for man because God created human beings for relationship with one another. There are so many different relationships that we have in our lives, but it’s interesting that the very first one we hear about is the foundational one of human life, which is the spousal relationship between Adam and Eve, husband and wife.

Human relationship, since human beings are both physical and spiritual beings, requires both of these components of the physical and spiritual. When I say physical, I am referring to being in the physical presence of another person. There is something that happens in us when we are together as human beings. It is unexplainable, but now having been separated from others due to this pandemic, I believe that people are beginning to see and experience this unexplainable union. 

Our physical bodies carry our souls into the presence of the other. While the body may not experience any noticeable reaction to our coming into contact with another person, the soul always will. As Catholics we believe in the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. His real presence to us at Mass and Eucharistic Adoration has the power to lift our souls and transform our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit. We come into the presence of He who is, who was, and who ever will be and the Holy Spirit responds.

As we all navigate this pandemic despite the fact that we are trying to live our daily lives with the unknown of the future looming over us, we are each doing our best to take the necessary precautions in order to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe. Evenso, it is important to recognize the good it does for our soul to be in the real physical presence with one another. Whether you are a mom caring for a family member who has an underlying medical condition, or a nurse working in a nursing home where residents are unable to see their family, or you are a hospital worker who is caring for sick or hurt patients who are all alone, no matter where you are or what your circumstances, remember that the Lord has placed you with the people around you, this very day, so that you can be His Light. 

I have a good friend who works at an infusion center and she sees her job as ministry, by bringing the Light of Christ to her patients. She has the most amazing stories, especially since the start of the pandemic, of how the Lord has been using this infusion center, and my friend’s charisms, to unite souls. To bring about healing and restoration. To give hope and support to those who are lost. The Holy Spirit is alive and actively working through my friend to bring about so much more than medical remedies, which assist physical healing. My friend gives her whole self to her patients, both her physical and spiritual presence to them, and thus the Lord is able to perform spiritual healing through the infusion of hope and unity. 

The health of our soul depends on the Holy Spirit. We must do our part of living from that place of Divine Love. We must strive to live every moment in the present with the very people God has placed around us. We must recognize our need and the needs of others to be fully present to one another. We must do all we can to strengthen and unite our relationships so that the lies of the enemy will not prevail against us. When we do this, the Spirit will come alive in each one of us, lifting us up out of the darkness where we have been hiding and into the Light of Christ. The Spirit will give us hope and encourage us, lifting our souls up to glorify God so that we can remember who we are and what we were made for. The Spirit will also give us peace, bringing us into the eye of the storm so that we can find stillness amongst the storm of the unknown around us. 

Jesus has no better person to be His Light for those He has placed around you than you! When you make yourself fully present to others, the Holy Spirit will be able to bring life from death. This is what we were made for! This is what we are called to do every day of our lives, in every circumstance! Live Love my friends.

“But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

Ephesians 2:4-7