Christian brotherly love is the basis of all other relationships. We all yearn for relationships where we are known, cared for, loved with great affection and appreciated, where we can divulge our deepest selves and still be accepted. That’s what we are supposed to be to each other. We have an inborn need for it and we can’t become fully ourselves separate from it. God provides for some of that in the Christian community, outside the exclusivity and sexual bond of marriage. Some people are never called to marriage, whose main aim is the procreation of children. It doesn’t mean that they are to be left out of the love bus. Or if they are called to marriage, that now their spouse is to be their all in all. Not at all.
Satans tries to
1)reduce the importance of such relationships.
2)to imply that every significant relationship has to be based on sex.
3)or insist that all relationships are competitive.
None of the above are true and are indeed lies from the pit of hell. Every time that we see Satan expending a lot of energy on something, we need to take a closer look at it. It is most likely an area that is of very great importance to the Lord, and necessary for our well being. Remember Satan has a fierce hatred for mankind, and his main mission is to kill and destroy.
Lacking these bonds, we can be propelled into great loneliness and despair. We can see it in our world today, where depression and mood disorders are rampant. We are missing this type of connection. Other relationships like marriage and parenting become messed up because now we have too much riding on it. Without it young people rush into romantic relationships and often marriages that they were never meant to be in, in the first place. They want to feel loved, not to create babies which is what marriage is for.
You can listen to Fr. Lauer’s talk on this subject over at our LENTEN page.