“It is unnatural and unhealthy to live in a state of fracture or conflict with another, we must always strive to resolve the wound. When we live in a state of fracture or conflict with another, there is a part of ourselves that gets shut down in order to cope with this broken relationship. There is a part of us where we stop feeling. We get backed up emotionally so to speak. However, when the urge to reconcile moves us and we reach out and mend that broken relationship, the emotions get moving again and we feel alive.” (Fr. Joshua Makoul)
“We gaze fondly at the shepherds in family creches and in Nativity icons, and that ethereal peace feels holy and poetic—a heavenly ideal. But on a personal level, where we work out our salvation in the midst of fractured relationships, those ideals of peace and goodwill can seem hopelessly out of reach… Many of us are experiencing significant pain and brokenness in our families….people I love and admire are dealing with recent divorces, impending divorces, and the multiple-household juggling of long-ago divorces. Parents of small children are struggling to find ways to honor abusive or disinterested grandparents while also protecting their own children. Adult children have distanced themselves from the family, geographically and emotionally, while nursing grudges. Siblings refuse to speak to each other or even occupy the same room…I’ve noticed three recurring themes (among many) about our relationships: learning to see people as God sees them, taking a hard look at myself, and choosing the path of forgiveness.” (Lynette Horner)
“The broken, fractured family touches all of our lives and indeed is family life for some of us… In any family, one person may very well be decisively influential in the salvation of all the members. One person can and really does make a difference…For that one person, the elevation of the cross in his or her life may be precisely the agony of seeing the family tattered and torn apart, with all the feelings of helplessness and pathos which accompany such a broken life…one member of a family, taking the time and expressing the desire to follow Christ, can make the family a living temple of the cross and resurrection, at least partially. Indeed, one member of the family surely can be the way (person) through which (whom) salvation comes to all members of that family.” (Albert S. Rossi)
“Sin has fractured our personalities; consequently, we have to choose who we are, who we are becoming. Whom we feed, we become. Some of us have so starved our spiritual selves, that like the historical Lazarus, we need to be raised from the dead and freed from our grave clothes. Others of us, like the weak beggar of the parable [Lazarus], beg from our lazy and passion-driven selves just a little spiritual food, a little prayer, a little discipline, a little spiritual reading–something to feed the gnawing hunger of our minds (nous). And although this theological reflection…may seem to us selfish, it is not at all. By healing myself, by feeding the poor spiritual man in my own heart, I become someone who can actually help others.” (Fr. Michael Gillis)
“We can talk about a fractured culture and society, a fractured Christian church with all of its denominations, fractured families, and any other types of external fractures we can think of. These are all outward manifestations of fractures within caused by the virus of sin in us. Too much external focus is a form of misdirection from the enemy. We need to be prayerful so we can heal by attaining humility through the Holy Spirit that turns us from combatants into healers, starting with ourselves.” (Sacramental Living Ministries)