by Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL
One of the great challenges that we Christians face in today’s world is to have happy and healthy relationships with our family members and all those with whom we have contact. It seems that our world is becoming more and more fractured in that less and less people seem to be willing to put in the effort to work through struggles in relationships and opt for the easy way out, that is, to break off the relationship and forget about it! All too often, this is precisely the story when married couples find that they do not agree on everything and it is “too hard” to work out a compromise position that is amenable to both parties.
I think that one of the things we should do is to look carefully at our lives and ask ourselves, “What are the things that we most value in them?” Whether we do this as individuals or as couples or as families or as communities, we should arrive at the conclusion that it is the relationships in our lives that are the things that mean the most to us. If we look back to Genesis 2:18 & 20 we find a fundamental truth about the human state: It is not good for man (or woman) to be alone. It is essential to a person’s wellbeing that they are in relationship with others. It is a part of our human makeup that we neglect to the detriment of our sanity. The fact that human life is differentiated, that is, we are either male or female points in this direction as well.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Fr. Steve Tynan, MGL is a founding member of the Missionaries of God’s Love (MGL), a congregation that originated in Canberra, Australia in 1986. He is the pastor of St. Benedict Parish in the Diocese of Novaliches, and also serves as the spiritual director of the Light of Jesus Family and Elim communities, among other Catholic organizations. He has been writing for Shepherd’s Voice Publications for more than twenty years, including the reflections in Companion and Sabbath, as well as articles in other publications.