Diocese of Covington - New Beginnings at 947 Donaldson Rd., Erlanger, KY 41018 US - New Article 6

Divorce is a shattering experience. It does not, however, have to cripple you to the point that you stop living life. Any traumatic event in life becomes a “death” experience only if we allow it to teach us nothing about ourselves, our God, and the world around us. God’s promise to us is that God’s love is unchanging and unending. God is with us in every event of our lives…the spectacular and the mundane. When we open ourselves up to this great mystery, we give God permission to teach us and to be revealed to us in a deeper, more intimate manner. Divorce does change the circumstances of our lives. Often, we do not feel welcome at church. We wonder if our couple friends wish to spend time with us anymore. Our children, our parents, our siblings, are responding to the divorce in their own ways, changing the dance steps of these important relationships. We wonder what we did wrong. We wonder why he/she left us. We wonder if we will ever be happy again. For a Catholic, we remember the vows we made in sight of God and our faith community and question the strength of a faith now tested. The encouragement that we experience as Christians is the recognition that although Jesus called his disciples to perfection, he loved them in their imperfection. While we are called to wholeness, we are loved even in our fears and our failures. As Christians, we acknowledge that there is only one perfect being….and we are not it! What a grace it is to know that our God loves us in all our humanity. God waits patiently to respond to our cries. God longs to help us grow from whatever our life experience may be. God walks with us as we journey from “death” to new life. To that end, we invite all divorced Catholics to “come home”, to share in the support and opportunity for growth offered at New Beginnings. Let’s walk together as we move into the loving mystery that is our God.

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