“Love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage…” This old time song is as true today as ever, and we now have a deeper understanding from both Scripture and science of how love and marriage “dance” together and how to restore the dance when the music stops.
Our Catholic faith teaches us that marriage is a Sacrament, meaning that there is actual grace in a Sacramental marriage. This grace is what assists husbands and wives to live out marriage joyfully, sacrificially, and lovingly. However, we are still Fallen creatures so even with the grace present in a Sacramental marriage we suffer from concupiscence, the propensity towards selfishness and sin, which causes us to wound each other.
So, you have discerned that you are called to married life. Now what?
One of the many blessings that flow from the Catholic Church’s unswerving stance against divorce – or better, for the permanence of marriage – is that the Catholic theology of marriage has a depth and richness rarely found in Protestant thought, and wholly foreign to secular thought.
For intimacy and trust to exist in marriages, we must be present and aware. This is simple, but not easy. Being “present” means staying focused on the here and now – not thinking about some other time and place.
As Catholics, we can better prepare our hearts to the devoutness of our faith through creating a thoroughly Catholic, Christ-centered home.
Spring to Summer is such a great time of the year to see that “love is in the air.” It is the season of Weddings, Bridal Showers and Baby Showers.
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them.” Genesis 1:27-28a