We must go from a broken heart to a full heart.

"The tears are the blood of the soul". St. Augustine (354-439) Bishop and philosopher.

In a time ago, I attended a Christian Conference. It was located on the banks of a very beautiful river. Most of my companions went to the different restaurants of meat and seafood, etc. I had proposed a savings plan and decided to stay in the cafeteria at dinner time.

Source

I always used to be used to walking with a family with enough children, and it takes time to get used to eating alone. The innkeeper came and asked me: "Can I help you?" It was all I could say, in my usual way, "A table for five people, no smoking and water for everyone". It is very rare for him to eat alone.

They placed me at a table and waited for the waitress to bring me a cup of coffee. I started around and noticed that I was not the only one eating alone in the restaurant. A middle-aged man in a business suit was eating macaroni while reading the news.

A young woman, probably a student, was eating a piece of cake while reading a text. A very severe and appropriate woman, about the age of my father, was methodically cutting the meat into pieces.

At the counter, sat someone who looked like a truck driver. He was flirting with the waitress, while she took an order of flakes.

The waitress came and I ordered a soup and bread and cheese, and when I was waiting for her to come, I noticed all the people who were eating alone. I know it was not right to do, but I was curious. The student turned in her chair and picked up the book she was reading.

It was a book about organic chemistry. I was probably studying for an exam, I thought. I wonder if he would have grown up in San Luis, or if his home and family would be far away. I remembered my first year of university, 4000 miles from my house and I felt sorry for her.

Listen to the truck driver, who said he was heading to Detroit, after driving from St. Petersburg and passing through San Luis. He told the waitress, that he was a religious man, that he had visited three Saints in four days. I asked myself if I would ever go to church. He was a little rough, but very jovial. I imagined that I ate most of the time on a bench, on which I was now sitting.

When my food arrives, I turn my attention to the older woman. He had finished his meat and at the time he was eating the canned beans that serve in the cafeterias. She did not stop seeing her plate. On her finger was a wedding ring, but she looked alone. I wonder if her husband would have died.

I turn my attention to the businessman. He had taken out a calculator from his briefcase and was busy flipping buttons and taking notes on the paper. He did not have a ring on his finger. I asked if he had enough money and what he would have done with it.

Five of us eating alone in a cafeteria, in the middle of a big city. I asked myself, what kind of stories we could tell, what things we had in common, what our past had created and what the future held for us. But, my uncertainty had no case.

No one spoke, none noticed the presence of the other in that restaurant. The only thing that united us was our physical presence in the building and the same waitress. Dinner that night was an intense private event for each one of us.

That food in the cafeteria in San Luis, symbolizes the kind of brokenness that we tend to experience, as members of humanity. We are made to have relationships, to be in a community, to be in harmony.

In our lesson of today's San Marcos scriptures, we are faced with another example of brokenness, sin. Something is clear to me all of us are inclined to have broken relationships. Christ calls us to unity, forgiveness and reconciliation. This is ideal, of course.

We know that our city, community, houses and even our church are full of tense relationships. We know how devastating is the separation in families that can destroy children and families. Of course, we know the chaos that it can cause in the children, when the parents, who are struggling all the time, are only together, as they say, "by consideration for the children."

Most of us, all the time we are struggling with our sense of brokenness, whatever the cause. Matrimonial and relationship problems in marriage provide a good symbol for such a breach, because, in most cases, we have to work hard to make the relationship good.

A woman, accompanying her husband to the doctor, for a physical examination. The doctor asked her to have a private conversation before leaving her office. Your husband, the doctor told him, is under great stress and you should dedicate your life trying to protect him. Do not argue or argue with him.

Get up early every morning and prepare your favorite breakfast. I spent the morning cleaning the house; but have prepared a tasty lunch at noon, if he is in the house. The afternoon can be spent working outside; but be sure there is a special dinner for when he returns.

At night, they can play something or watch television, followed by romance, if he is interested. This must be your schedule, to help him in this crisis. The wife left the office, picked up her husband and took him home. Well, said the husband, what did the doctor tell you? He told me, the wife replied, that you're going to die.

Although this must seem humorous, I would like to reiterate that a good marriage requires hard work, but on both sides. And that, in a marriage, both have to have some responsibility. There are some rare cases, when the partner has nothing or very little fault for the break, when there is a deficiency character, for example, or when there is violence.

I would like to say something radical at this time: What the Scriptures are saying, is that we should not treat our partner, as a piece of property, that can be changed, if we get tired or if it does not fill our present needs.

There are moments, when I believe, that God calls a person, to end a relationship that is destroying them. There are also times when one of the parties is being used or abused by the other.

It is, in my opinion, not only allowed to end the marriage, but it is their responsibility, to end the marriage, which is destroying him or her and giving the couple an understanding, to believe that he or she has the right to treat to the spouse, as a piece of property.

But, damn it! Broken marriages, like any broken relationship, is a sign of our brokenness as people. In view of being this, the Sunday of Reconciliation, what I have been saying about marriage, can be applied in our relations with our neighbor.

But, we can thank God, that we have a Savior, who came to change our brokenness into something complete. While it is true that we have all sinned and fallen from the glory of God, we have One who came to assure us of forgiveness for our sins, surrendering himself, as a sacrifice for us. He gave his body for us. He shed his blood for us.

When we receive communion this morning, let us be aware, that at this table, our brokenness becomes complete. If we have a perfect marriage, and we have never been divorced, we are still sinners.

We still need to be complete. And, if you have been in a broken relationship, either through divorce or any other class, come to the Lord's table, with others, who have been in broken relationships and experience fulfillment, because you know that God loves you in Jesus Christ Our Lord.

Remember the description of my food in San Luis? How different was that food, which we share today as Christians. As a celebration of communion, each one of us in that cafeteria, we come to the table and receive nutrition, support and rest.

However, there was one thing that was drastically different. What we had in common the five people alone, was loneliness. We arrived alone, we ate alone, and when the time came, we left alone. We do not share anything As you can see, no matter how we see it, when we come to the table that God has ready for us, we can never eat alone. It is not a solitary event, it is a corporation event.

There are private elements in our faith. In several ways, faith is something personal, an experience from within. At the heart of our faith is the requirement of a personal relationship with God in Jesus Christ. The individuality within Christianity is important, because God will move you in a special way, which is different from the way God will move me.

God will use me in a particular way, which is different from how God will use you. All this is true. But, it is just as true that our Christian faith is a corporate faith. And this corporate compartment of the Body of Our Lord is what helps us bring us from our separation, our brokenness, to a sense of fulfillment.

When Jesus found the woman in the well, He did not raise her to the standard of the Law. He found her there and gave her the Water of Life. Jesus finds us in the penalty of divorce, or in the penalty of any other kind of broken relationship and experience, and walks with us from that moment. I invite you to freely walk with Him.

A great friend and companion of the ministry has written a poem that says:

The pain and suffering of broken relationships is difficult to carry.

Sometimes, people are cruel in their well-meaning comments of love and support.
But, the only one who understands and knows my grief
He is the One who welcomed the children, unconditionally. In my heart the pain and suffering of broken relationships is shared by Christ.

BREAKING INSTRUMENTS. God as the eternal craftsman has his own tools to bring us to brokenness and thus be able to mold us easily. What are these most common tools?

The first tool God uses is His sweet whisper in the human heart. God knows and likes to speak in whispers to the heart. His sweet and tender voice, his gentle and gentle manner of communicating, reaches first the heart to produce in us a voluntary brokenness. However, we are so busy so many times in our own projects, dreams and ambitions that we do not listen to it or do not want to listen to it.

"The eye sees God only through tears." Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French novelist