Tag Archives: Marriage

Marriage and Family: God’s Divine Plan

12 Saturday Oct 2019

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We find ourselves facing a firestorm that is apparently global about the biblical plan for sexuality, marriage, and family. How are we to act in relation to this disturbing phenomenon? Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, OFMCap

Capuchin Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa is the preacher of the Pontifical Household. In a homily a few years back, he reflected on Gaudium et spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World. He says that this document addresses many social issues; the most relevant and problematic is marriage and family.

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Competition in Marriage

29 Sunday Sep 2019

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Are you a competitive person? Do you like to compete with your spouse? Here are some signs of competition in your marriage:

  1. You will do whatever it takes to win an argument.
  2. You always have to be right.
  3. You take winning a little too seriously, even in fun activities like board games.
  4. Everything becomes a contest.
  5. You gloat when you win.
  6. You are a sore loser.

Competition in marriage is deadly. In our coaching ministry, we encourage couples with weak conflict resolution skills to work together to brainstorm win-win solutions to their disagreements. When both spouses in a marriage feel that their needs and desires are being met, they work together to identify and implement a solution.

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Satan Hates Marriage

22 Sunday Sep 2019

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Throughout Scripture, God uses marriage as an analogy of His love for us. God created us for friendship with Him. His plan is for us to share in His divine life for all eternity. Everything that God created is good; it was created out of love. God created man and woman, instituting marriage as a sacrament to bless them. Through marriage, He commanded them to be fruitful and fill the earth.

One of His creatures, an angel, rebelled out of envy of us. Through “the devil’s envy death entered the world” (Wisdom 2:24). Because the devil couldn’t defeat God, he went to battle with the creatures that God loved most, human beings created in His image and likeness.

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The Role of the Holy Spirit in Marriage

08 Sunday Sep 2019

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Come Holy Spirit Wedding

Make love your aim, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy…he who prophesies speaks to men for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. 1 Corinthians 14:1, 3

The Sacraments are an encounter with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is present in all of the Sacraments. At baptism, we receive the Holy Spirit; we are immersed in Christ’s death and resurrection, freed from the stain of original sin. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says “Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit and the door which gives access to the other sacraments” (CCC, 1213, emphasis added).

Have you ever wondered why couples who marry in the Catholic Church have to be baptized? It is because the Holy Spirit is imparted at baptism and this is a requirement for the marriage to be sacramental. In “this sacrament the spouses receive the Holy Spirit as the communion of love of Christ and the Church. The Holy Spirit is the seal of their covenant, the ever available source of their love and the strength to renew their fidelity” (CCC, 1624, emphasis added).

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Marriage: Imaging God’s Love

18 Sunday Aug 2019

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Seeing Jesus in Each Other

What is the point of marriage? To understand the point of marriage, we need to first understand the sacramentality of marriage. What is a Sacrament? It is a visible sign of an invisible reality, instituted by Christ as a source of grace. In the Sacrament of Matrimony, the visible sign is the couple themselves. What is the invisible reality of this sign? Jesus. The husband and wife have the mission of being Christ to each other, to their children, and to the whole world. You cannot have a loftier task!

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Balancing Priorities in Marriage and Family Life

20 Saturday Jul 2019

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Work-Life Balance

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matthew 6:21

What do you treasure most in your life? Your career, beautiful home, car, friendships, family, leisure time, possessions? To help you determine what you treasure most, look at your calendar. Where do you invest the greatest amount of time, energy, and finances?

Take a few moments to look at the figures below and honestly decide which one best represents the focus of your life.

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Corpus Christi: Eucharist and Marriage Intimately Linked

23 Sunday Jun 2019

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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.

Marshall Fightlin, seminary professor and licensed marriage and family psychologist, compares the conjugal intimacy of Christ in the Eucharist to the conjugal intimacy of the spouses in marriage.

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From Trial by Fire to Baptism by Fire

08 Saturday Jun 2019

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I (Dennis) did not come to know the love of the heavenly Father until I experienced a powerful movement of the Holy Spirit in my heart. Unfortunately, brokenness from a failed marriage was the catalyst that drove me to my knees, crying out to God for help. Like Abraham Lincoln in the midst of division in our nation, I was driven “upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for that day.” [1]

I was raised a Lutheran. Growing up, we did not pray as a family. God was a “Sunday Only” thing. I married in the Catholic Church in 1979. My wife and I attended mass irregularly during the early years of our marriage. But I lacked knowledge of the grace that God pours into a sacramental marriage. The seeds of dissension were planted in our marriage by unchaste behavior during our courtship. Mortal sin had blocked the grace that God wished to dispense into our marriage. We had opened the door to Satan in our marriage which had destructive consequences.

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Jesus Christ: Source of Hope and Love in Marriage – Part 3

16 Saturday Feb 2019

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The last two weeks (Part 1 and Part 2), we have been looking at Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted’s Apostolic Exhortation Complete My Joy, which he wrote to husbands and wives, mothers and fathers of the Diocese of Phoenix. He delves into the importance of having a marriage centered on Jesus Christ. This week we will look at his practical suggestions on how to strengthen your marriage and family life.

Bishop Olmsted identifies six key areas of growth for your marriage and family spirituality:

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Jesus Christ: Source of Hope and Love in Marriage – Part 2

10 Sunday Feb 2019

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2018_Exhortation_Cover_Complete My Joy

Last week, we started looking at Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted’s Apostolic Exhortation Complete My Joy, which he wrote to husbands and wives, mothers and fathers of the Diocese of Phoenix. Bishop Olmsted points to Jesus Christ as the source of hope and love in marriage and family life. This week, we will continue in our examination of this timely and much needed exegesis into both biblical and Church teachings on this important topic. As he says:

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