Today is the Feast Day of Saints Louis and Zélie Martin, the parents of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. Just this past October, they became the first couple to be canonized together as husband and wife. As the exemplars of holy family life, we have designated Louis and Zélie Martin as the patron Saints of the Calling Couples to Christ Apostolate.

Pray for us, Saints Louis and Zélie, that we may be an instrument of hope and healing to families as they strive to live well their vocation to marriage and family life.

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We live in a crazy, mixed up world. What is up is down. What is down is up. There is no area of greater confusion in our society than in the area of marriage and family. If we do not understand marriage, we will never understand God. A lifelong, committed, chaste, faithful and fruitful union of one man and one woman is thought to be old-fashioned. Relationships are just another means of recreation, for immediate self-gratification and nothing more. People are just objects to be used for one’s own personal gratification. If a relationship is not meeting your needs, just throw it away and move on to another.

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We must dare to be great; and we must realize that greatness is the fruit of toil and sacrifice and high courage. (Teddy Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States)

The American Revolution was in part, a battle for religious freedom. Courageous men and women stood up for that which was right and just, a belief held so deeply that they were willing to risk their lives to fight for this freedom. This young nation honored God and by His providence, was protected from evil forces seeking to destroy it. God bless these holy men and women for fighting for what they believed.

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Did you know that the family is the Center of the New Evangelization? St. John Paul II in his epic Apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris Consortio (On the Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World), had this to say about the mission of the family:

…the family has the mission to become more and more what it is, that is to say, a community of life and love…we must say that the essence and role of the family are in the final analysis specified by love…the family has the mission to guard, reveal and communicate love, and this is a living reflection of and a real sharing in God’s love for humanity and the love of Christ the Lord for the Church His bride[i]

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HAPPY FATHER’S DAY to the men out there! I have something to ask of you today. If there was one thing that you could do to virtually divorce-proof your marriage, would you be willing to do it? This activity has been described as being more intimate than the marital embrace. Do I have your buy-in?

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Modern Natural Family Planning (NFP) methods were developed during the 1960s in the midst of the sexual revolution. Although NFP brought a new understanding of love, sexuality, gender roles, fertility appreciation, openness to life and intimacy, it did not have a language to articulate these benefits to the culture. Dr. Mary Shivanandan says St. John Paul II’s landmark work on the Theology of the Body (TOB) provides a new voice and a new language for Natural Family Planning. In her article Natural Family Planning and the Theology of the Body: A New Discourse for Married Couples[1] she explains how TOB gives NFP a voice to communicate the beauty and richness of the Church’s teachings on marriage and family life to a contracepting culture.

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Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, a Pastoral Letter by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. USCCB: Washington, D.C., 2009. 58 pages. ISBN: 978-1-60137-092-1. Reviewed by Dennis & Rose Wingfield, June 5, 2016.

To assist in our ministry to married couples, we were looking for a succinct and clear book which would help couples understand the beauty, goodness and truth of God’s plan for marriage. The Pastoral Letter issued by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Marriage: Love and Life in the Divine Plan, aptly addresses this need.

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This weekend in the United States we honor those individuals who have given their lives in the defense of freedom around the world. Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic. It was first observed on May 30, 1868 when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. This was in the aftermath of the Civil War when our nation was divided by the issue of slavery and many thousands had lost their lives fighting for what they believed. It has taken a long time for our nation to heal from this devastating division and massive loss of life. Memorial Day is not about division but reconciliation, coming together as a nation to honor those who gave their all for our country.

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations. (Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, 4 March 1865)

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Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity. Our favorite icon of the Trinity, written by Russian iconographer Andrei Rublev (1360s-1427), depicts the three angels who visited Abraham at the Oak of Mamre (see Gn 18:1-15), a type of the Holy Trinity. Rublev’s icon, Trinity, is shown below.

Rublev’s Trinity^[1]

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When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit… Acts 2:1-4

Today the Church celebrates the close of the Easter season with the Feast of Pentecost. We commemorate Christ sending the Holy Spirit on His Apostles as He promised before His Ascension into heaven (see Acts 1:1-4). The Holy Spirit is difficult to comprehend; we cannot see him or hear him. Our limited language cannot fully explain the meaning of the Spirit. The images of fire, wind or a dove are commonly used to describe the Spirit in Scripture.

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