Taking time to nurture marriage

It has been nearly a week since I last posted. We are in the midst of many changes in our household. My husband just shifted in his job situation, our children started back to school, and I went back for my fall semester of classes. There are times when my husband and I don’t get to spend time together as much as we would like, and I think that is pretty common for our day and age. Families are busy, and the temptation is to focus on the details rather than on the big picture.

If we obsessed about the sheer multitude of things that each one of us had to accomplish in any given day, the priority of objects would overwhelm us. Sometimes, in fact, that does happen. It is easy to lose focus on what is really important unless prayer is a part of our daily lives. God takes priority in our lives. Every day should be ordered to pleasing our Lord. When He’s pushed aside, we are easily confused in a society that aggressively competes for our affections.

God directs us back to the mission He has entrusted to us. As married couples, we are called to help one another on our journey toward heaven and to share our love in such a way that the physical manifestation of our love and God’s love combined also becomes our path to sanctity. Children are the wonderful gift of God whose love is so great it cannot be contained. Even so, the marriage itself has to have priority for the benefit of the couple and of the children. The best gift any father and mother can give to their children is the love and support of a joyful marriage.

I am absolutely in awe of the great gift of such a wonderful and loving spouse who knows this to be true. This past weekend we enjoyed a dinner out (even though I had five loads of laundry to fold, a five-page paper on the Hebrew words used in Genesis looming over me, 300 pages left in St. Augustine’s Confessions and my reading for Christian Anthropology to complete). Fantastic dinner, incomparable conversation, side-splitting laughter...we still enjoy each other’s company like we did in college, only now it’s richer and deeper, carrying with it all the experience of life and a mature faith in God.

Time out with the hubby...just what the Holy Physician of souls ordered!

The fruits of a faithful marriage

Today, on the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne, I have been reflecting upon the gifts of a faith-filled marriage. Sacramental marriage is a great gift and has always been viewed by the Church as a vocation in which a man and a woman are aided by the Holy Spirit to grow in holiness and virtue. The beauty of marriage is that both of the spouses, with their hearts firmly attached to Christ, aid each other in the spiritual growth that is necessary to perfect us for heaven.

That being said, among faithful Catholics, much attention has been given to the physical fruits of marriage...children. Thanks be to God! Openness to life is vital for a faith-filled marriage. But there are other fruits cultivated in a sacramental marriage that contribute to the good of the spouses, the good of the children and the good of society. Generosity, forgiveness, trust, compassion, empathy and sacrifice are all fruits of a Christ-centered marriage. These fruits are desperately needed in our society today, and it is up to us to cultivate good married relationships starting with our own spouses.

The mission of a married couple extends further than ourselves. So many of our priest friends are greatly edified to see married couples opening our hearts to the love of God. This is marriage as God truly intended, and it makes them grateful for their own vocation. In this current climate of hostility toward the pristhood and the Church, we need strong marriages more than ever to shine Christ's light into the world. Sts. Joachim and Anne, pray for us!