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World Marriage Week_2020

Each year, February 7-14 is designated as National Marriage Week! This is a great time to reflect on the gift marriage is to our Church and our country, as well as an opportunity for you to build up your own marriage.

This year the theme is: Stories from the Domestic Church. Here are some ways you can focus on your marriage:

  • Spend a little dedicated time in prayer and reflection by participating in a seven-day virtual retreat from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
  • Pray a rosary for your marriage and all marriages.
  • Learn your spouse’s love language and begin “speaking” that language. Here is an online quiz to determine your love language.. Together read The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman.
  • Watch an episode of Beloved  – Finding Happiness in Marriage. The series of 12 videos is available to watch for free on Formed.org (many parishes have a subscription) or for purchase at the Catholic Store
  • Learn how to pray together as a couple. The Couple Prayer Series was created to help married couples more fully enjoy the life-changing intimacy of praying together as husband and wife. To learn how to pray together, sign up to attend a live, six-week course or order the DVDs at the link above.
  • Discover your spouse’s temperament. The Temperament God Gave Your Spouse, by Art and Laraine Bennett explains how the different temperaments can work together in marriage. Here’s an online quiz to determine your temperament.
  • Start a marriage group. See ideas here and here.
  • Check out the Daily Marriage Tips at For Your Marriage. Maybe you’ll find a new idea to strengthen your relationship.
  • Visit the National Marriage Week website to find additional ideas for building up your marriage, recommended reading, supporting marriage in the community and much more. There’s also a listing of marriage-building events throughout the country.

The world is in need of witnesses to the beauty, goodness, and truth of God’s plan for marriage. Pope John Paul II never tired of reminding us, the future of humanity depends on marriage and the family.[1] Implement these ideas to strengthen your marriage so that it will be a beacon of hope in a world filled with darkness and despair.

[1] John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio (The Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World) (November 22, 1981), §75, internet: http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_jp-ii_exh_19811122_familiaris-consortio.html (accessed February 1, 2020) ― “The future of the world and of the church passes through the family.”