Our lives are entwined in a Divine love story; we are created to be related. Love is the basic vocation that we all share (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1991). God's place is in all forms of human love. Intimacy is a hallmark of all Christian love (Au & Cannon, 1995).

True intimacy mirrors the relationality of the Trinitarian God. In the Trinity the three persons are in an eternal relationship of mutual and creative love. Intimacy is characterised by a mutual self-giving, by freedom from shame, by radical equality, by mutuality, by inclusivity and by justice with mercy.

Seeing ourselves and each other as God sees us means seeing the beauty and goodness of the whole person in all his or her unrepeatable uniqueness and loving as God loves, tenderly and without domination (O'Leary, 2001).