Daily Love-Thought

"Wives submit to your husbands...Husbands love your wives...This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the Church" (Eph. 5:22, 25, 32)

Our social relations have been corrupted by sin. This is spelled out in Genesis 3:16 where God tells Eve that "your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." This is not a declaration of God's beautiful plan, rather it is a description of what has happened because of sin. So Paul doesn't just give a command about social order in the family, he bounds it in Christ. It is ONLY in Jesus that social relationships are restored to their proper order. Husbands and wives are called to a life saturated with Jesus, only through the power of the Holy Spirit (given to us by Jesus) can we begin to experience fullness of life in our social relations.

As we learn more and more to love God and Neighbor, as Augustine constantly emphasizes, we will be drawn deeper into God's love through the power of God's Spirit in us.

Be blessed my friends.