Finding True Happiness in Marriage

20 Friday Jul 2018

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Happiness Christ-Centered Shaded

Did you know that your happiness is dependent on your ability to focus on others?

Recently, thanks to Craig Pohl, Director of New Evangelization for the Diocese of Lansing, Michigan, we learned about Fr. Robert Spitzer’s Four Levels of Happiness. The essence of each level is based on philosophy dating back to Aristotle, who said that happiness is the one thing we desire in and of itself. The level of happiness that is dominant in our lives will dictate our actions and choices. Furthermore, whichever level of happiness dominates our lives will determine the depth and endurance of our happiness.

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Saints Louis and Zélie Martin – Exemplars of Simple Spirituality Lived Out in Daily Life

12 Thursday Jul 2018

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Today is the Feast Day of Saints Louis and Zélie Martin, the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. In October 2015, they became the first couple to be canonized together as husband and wife.

Blessed Louis and Marie Zélie Guerin Martin were married on July 12, 1858. The couple had nine children, but four of them died in infancy. All five of the surviving children, including St. Thérèse, entered religious life, highlighting the important role parents play in their children’s human and spiritual upbringing. Zélie Martin died of cancer in 1877, at the age of 45; her husband died when he was 70 in 1894.

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Book Review: The First Society

07 Saturday Jul 2018

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The First Society

During the last five decades, marriage has declined while the number of broken families has sharply increased. The ills of society that we face today are the direct result of the breakdown of the traditional family.

Formed to address this critical issue, the Calling Couples to Christ Apostolate strives to help couples live Christ-centered, joy-filled marriages. St. John Paul II said, “As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.” Healthy and whole families lead to a healthy and whole society.

In seeking resources to assist us in this effort, we were delighted to see that Dr. Scott Hahn recently published a new book, The First Society: The Sacrament of Matrimony and the Restoration of the Social Order[1]. Dr. Hahn makes the bold claim that through the Sacrament of Matrimony, a truly peaceful and humane society are possible.

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Good Things Come to Those Who Wait on the Lord

30 Saturday Jun 2018

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In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Luke 1:5-7

Zechariah and Elizabeth were called “upright in the sight of the Lord” because of their devotion to God. Not only were they obedient to God in the outward compliance to the letter of the law, their obedience grew out of hearts desiring to please Him.

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The Theological Virtues of Faith, Hope and Love

24 Sunday Jun 2018

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Faith_Hope_Love

Virtues are absolutely essential for marriages to thrive. A virtue is the habitual and firm disposition to do the good. The Latin root of the word is virtus, which means “strength” or “power.” Growing in virtue is a lifelong task to strengthen your willpower to choose what is best and right even in the most difficult of circumstances.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) our efforts will be fortified by grace: Continue reading →

The Principle End of Marriage: Getting Each Other to Heaven

16 Saturday Jun 2018

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heaven

In previous posts, we looked at the four goods of marriage and how to live them out. The Church also teaches that there are three ends of marriage. These are the extrinsic goods to which marriage is ordered, not the goods that arise from the married state.

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Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus – Family Consecration

08 Friday Jun 2018

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Sacred Heart_02A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647–1690), was a French Visitation nun and mystic, who promoted devotion to the Sacred Heart. As a young girl, she had apparitions of Jesus Christ, which she thought were a normal part of human experience. After receiving her first Holy Communion at age nine, she suffered four years with rheumatic fever, which confined her to bed. After making a vow to the Blessed Virgin to consecrate herself to religious life, she was instantly restored to perfect health.

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Solemnity of Corpus Christi – Marriage as an Image of the Eucharist

03 Sunday Jun 2018

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Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist – His Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Marriage is an image of the Holy Eucharist.

The Church since its earliest days has held up marriage as a profound image of God’s love for His people, brought to fruition in Christ’s love for His bride, the Church.

Pope Benedict XVI, in his book The Spirit of the Liturgy, describes how God’s covenant with His people Israel images the union of man and woman in marriage:

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Marriage: An Image of the Holy Trinity

27 Sunday May 2018

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Trinity_Holy Family

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. The Most Holy Trinity is an eternal exchange of life-giving love. Throughout history, God has shown humanity His selfless love. Christ has revealed the Father’s love in the power of the Holy Spirit. He has shown us the inner life of the Holy Trinity: a communion of persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Church is also a community of persons that shares in God’s Trinitarian life and love.[1]

Marriage is a metaphor for God’s self-giving love. It is also a participation in it. Like all sacraments, Matrimony draws husbands and wives more deeply into the Trinitarian life of God. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “the Christian family is a communion of persons, a sign and image of the communion of the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit” (CCC, 2205).

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Family Prayer to the Holy Spirit

20 Sunday May 2018

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Come Holy Spirit

Come, Holy Spirit, Lord of Life, bless us and grant us the grace of loving our families, as Jesus calls us to do, and help us to build peace in our hearts and in our homes.

Come, Spirit of Right Judgment, bless us and grant us the grace of peacefully resolving conflicts that arise in our families through patient dialogue that leads to understanding and renewal of love.

Come, Spirit of Knowledge, bless us and grant us the grace of loving the Church and finding in her a sure guide for truth and service to God’s will, especially in our relationships at home and in our extended families.

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