The Journey 155

Read: Mathew 19:1-6

The Daily Mail in London, UK, has reported an incident last week, about a news that an  Indian Telugu woman has filed for divorce within two months of marriage, on the ground that her husband had not changed his relationship status from being single to married in his Facebook page. The 28-year-old woman, told the family court that she cannot trust him anymore, since he did not announce on Facebook, the news about their marriage and hence the reason for separation. Meanwhile her husband has told the court that he had forgotten to update his status as he was busy with his work. Looking at the merits of the case, the family court judge has asked both the partners to undergo  six months of counseling.  There are lots of news floating around stating that some of the social networking sites like Facebook are some of the main reasons for one third of the divorce last year in United Sates.  Some of the reasons people associate Facebook causing issues in marital relationships are issues when one spouse finds messages that are flirty in nature, photos of their spouse at a party that they did not know about or with someone they should not have been with. But then we need to seriously analyze this issue whether is it Facebook that is the real issue or whether the spouses have been able to develop their marital relationship with a sense of trust and confidentiality, rather than blaming social networking sites for marital rift.

                       This week we start a new theme for our devotion and that will be “ Transformation in my Family Life”. The portion taken for our devotion is from Mathew 19: 1-6. This is the gospel portion that is read during the sacrament of marriage in the  Marthoma Church, a time when the celebrant joins the hands of the bride and the groom as an act of joining them together in the holy matrimony.  What is significant  about this passage is the teaching of Jesus Christ with regards to marriage and marital relationship. In v: 5, we find Jesus telling that “ For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife”. It is in this verse that you find some of the most powerful messages that we  need to internalize to make our family and marital life meaningful. Here is Jesus Christ telling us that if our marital relationship has to be blessed one, we need to detach ourselves in a healthy way and be attached also  in a healthy way to a new relationship. Here both man and woman is being asked to commit themselves to a new set of relationship and also to a new priority in relationships. Till the day you are married, you had a primary responsibility to the home that you grew up and to your parents, but once you are  married, your responsibility towards parents does not change but there is a new priority in life. And that priority is building up of ones marital and family life. One of the tragedies that happen in many of the families is that even after an man and woman is married, they do not change the priorities at home and also  are not able to see the relationship with their parents in a new perspective, thus failing to develop and strengthen their relationship with their spouses. There are number of youngsters who have got married, but fail to take steps to strengthen their marital relationship basically because it is their parents on whom they are dependent on and on whom they still are tied emotionally in a unhealthy way.

What is important in family life is take steps consciously to strengthen ones spousal relationship along with other web of relationship.