Beloved in Christ,
Our relationship with Jesus Christ is the same as the relationship between a wife and her husband. The book of Revelation describes Jesus Christ as being wedded to his Church: "The marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready," (19:7). This is, in fact, what gives marriage its meaning and significance. Our marriages today are not simply legal arrangements or worldly relationships; they are icons of the love that Christ has for his Church.
Unfortunately, there are healthy marriages and there are unhealthy marriages. Some marriages teach us true things about Christ's love for us, and some marriages teach us false things about Christ's love for us. A marriage in which the spouses lie to each other, abuse each other, cheat on each other, or simply do not love each other is a marriage that is failing to reflect the truth about God's love for his Church.
In healthy marriages, the spouses will put in effort to nurture their love for each other. They will spend time together. They will talk to each other. They will care for each other. They will give gifts to each other. Now and again, they will make sure that an element of romance is still part of their relationship. If either spouse is unwilling to put in the effort to build up their love, then the marriage is already on the path to failing tragically.
In the same way, our relationship with Jesus Christ needs to be nourished. We can either have a healthy or an unhealthy relationship with Jesus. If we are unwilling to put in the effort to strengthen our relationship with him, then, just like the married couple, that relationship is already on the path to failing. How do we build up our relationship with Jesus? The same way a married couple would: by spending time together, by getting to know one another, by making sacrifices for each other.
The good news is that, if we see that our marriage is failing, we can always make the decision to turn the marriage around. Our relationships with others are not doomed to fate; we can decide whether we want to change them or not. In a marriage that requires both spouses making the same decision and following through on it.
If we see that our relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ is going in the wrong direction, we can make the decision to turn that relationship around. That decision is ours to make freely. Then, if we follow through on that decision, our loving relationship with God can only grow. Then, both in our marriage and our relationship with Christ, we can say along with the prophet Solomon, "much water will not be able to quench love, nor will rivers drown it," (Song of Songs 8:7).
In Christ,
Fr. Jeremy