Thought for the Week – Relationships

We live in a relational universe – relationships are how life is organised at every level, from the simplest organism to the most complex – we are conceived in relationship, formed by relationships and sustained by relationships.

So relationships are not an option – they are at the centre of who I am. We often delude ourselves into thinking we are independent, autonomous and self-sufficient and this vision is, as Einstein suggested, an ‘optical illusion’ of our consciousness.

The reason we attempt to side-step this reality is because relationships lie in the realm of mystery and and you are not in control. Relationships are messy, challenging, sometimes fun, other times frustrating. But they are what we are – the stage on which we live our lives.

If this is true of how we are in the world, it is even truer of God and the Sacred Trinity. But again we want to control God, making Him into a self-sufficient, autonomous, distant person and so try to avoid the ‘messy mystery’ of a relationship – avoiding the humility and trust demanded by being in relationship.

Last Sunday was Trinity Sunday – this is a time when we are invited to open our hearts and minds to the reality of the ‘divine dance’ that is the Trinity.