On Living the Catholic Relationship
This is only my own interpretation: I have seen many couples who "[pray] together, going to church together, fighting life's battles together" and still have marriages fall apart. Spiritual warfare is very real and we all encounter it in our every day lives. Usually for us (you and me, personally) it appears as "business", "busy-ness", and “temptation.”
Before there can be any real dating or relationship, the person has to be in a state of grace (I choose that phrase very carefully). Before we can enter into a loving relationship, we must first allow ourselves to be captured by God in our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. If we are to believe (as we should) that God is love, then it only seems logical to build our relationship with Jesus. It is only through Christ that we can come to know what it is to have true and lasting love.
We do not belong to our parents, or girlfriends, or boyfriends, or spouses. We belong to God. The recognition that we are God's possession is not a forfeiture of rights but the recognition of the rights and freedoms that come with belonging to God. The greatest freedom with God is the freedom to love someone else. But this is not given until we receive it from God. It is very difficult to develop a relationship with someone else and develop a relationship with God at the same time. Too often, confusion enters the dynamic of the relationship and the lines of love/lust get blurred.
A solid relationship with Christ will allow you to be open to the vocational call God has for you. If you are called to marriage and motherhood, then the one you share that sacramental bond with will be easier to recognize if that person, too, is committed to God and has a deep, personal relationship with Christ. What this does is enhance the relationship itself by building on the complementary nature already there in the man and woman. The synchronous faith walk helps a relationship but cannot be the center of the relationship because of the nature of our "ownership". It all comes down to the truth that we belong to God first. Everything, EVERYTHING else comes forth from that.
Before there can be any real dating or relationship, the person has to be in a state of grace (I choose that phrase very carefully). Before we can enter into a loving relationship, we must first allow ourselves to be captured by God in our personal relationship with Jesus Christ. If we are to believe (as we should) that God is love, then it only seems logical to build our relationship with Jesus. It is only through Christ that we can come to know what it is to have true and lasting love.
We do not belong to our parents, or girlfriends, or boyfriends, or spouses. We belong to God. The recognition that we are God's possession is not a forfeiture of rights but the recognition of the rights and freedoms that come with belonging to God. The greatest freedom with God is the freedom to love someone else. But this is not given until we receive it from God. It is very difficult to develop a relationship with someone else and develop a relationship with God at the same time. Too often, confusion enters the dynamic of the relationship and the lines of love/lust get blurred.
A solid relationship with Christ will allow you to be open to the vocational call God has for you. If you are called to marriage and motherhood, then the one you share that sacramental bond with will be easier to recognize if that person, too, is committed to God and has a deep, personal relationship with Christ. What this does is enhance the relationship itself by building on the complementary nature already there in the man and woman. The synchronous faith walk helps a relationship but cannot be the center of the relationship because of the nature of our "ownership". It all comes down to the truth that we belong to God first. Everything, EVERYTHING else comes forth from that.
Love comes back to our understanding of prayer and life. The letter to the Hebrews has a passage that says the prayer of a faithful person is heard by God. Anyway, in Catholicism, we identify 5 types of prayer: Adoration, Petition, Intercession, Expiation, and Thanksgiving. Adoration is the veneration of God. Petition are the prayers for our needs. Intercession is the prayer for others. Expiation is our prayers for forgiveness and contrition for our sins. Thanksgiving are our prayers to God for what he has done and for his goodness.
As Catholics, we believe that God hears all prayers. We ask for the intercession of the saints/Mary in addition to our prayer to God. Metaphorically, it would be like listening to an oboe as opposed to the entire New York Philharmonic Symphony. Another aspect is our sinfulness, we are set apart from God by our own actions. While God never leaves us, we often distance our hearts from God and we can injure (not separate) our ability to pray. We ask the Saints, whom we KNOW are in heaven, to join in our prayer. Either they will or they won't, but because the fullness of prayer involves intercession, we ask them all the same to add us their intercessions.
As Catholics, we believe that God hears all prayers. We ask for the intercession of the saints/Mary in addition to our prayer to God. Metaphorically, it would be like listening to an oboe as opposed to the entire New York Philharmonic Symphony. Another aspect is our sinfulness, we are set apart from God by our own actions. While God never leaves us, we often distance our hearts from God and we can injure (not separate) our ability to pray. We ask the Saints, whom we KNOW are in heaven, to join in our prayer. Either they will or they won't, but because the fullness of prayer involves intercession, we ask them all the same to add us their intercessions.
When we pray, we should ask God to show us his love and bring us closer to him. God is the author of all life and does not seek our downfall. God is that passionate lover, the guiding father, the nurturing mother, the listening sister, the supportive brother, the best friend we could ever hope for. Our duty (and our salvation) is founded in our relationship with the Lord. I believe that we must embrace the fullest prayer we can enter into. We must seek the Lord in adoration, offer our petitions and intercessions, expiations for our sins, and just give thanks to Lord for loving us first. God hears our prayer and in his mercy, he will answer them. Let us embrace the fullness of life and live as God intends.
