Happy Super Bowl Sunday (go Chiefs!) and Happy St. Valentine’s Day this week! Did you know today is also World Marriage Sunday? Marriage and family life is one of the priorities of the Archdiocese and our parish. Marriage and the family are at the core of the God-given structure of our society and our critical for the raising of children and simply the good of society and our happiness!
Consider investing in your marriage at this time with a retreat. I highly encourage couples to participate in our Alpha Marriage Date Nights—see elsewhere in the bulletin for more info.
However, if that does not work for you consider an at-home retreat. There is one (of many) available at: https://www.usccb.org/resources/home-marriage-retreat-national-marriage…. By the way, this is a great site with loads of resources for marriage and family.
Or, something I often recommend if you haven’t done this before is to read the book, “The Five Love Languages” by Gary Chapman. There are two main ideas that I pick up on from the book. The first point is that each of us has a “love tank”. Yes, it sounds cheesy. But we either feel loved or we begin to run empty and into trouble. How do we feel loved? Here comes point #2, each of us “speaks” one of five love languages and someone else (in this context your spouse) needs to speak our own “love language” to us to fill up the tank. However, sometimes our languages are different, and two people can be really trying to love each other and doing lots of things, but simply in the wrong language, and thus the actions are not very effective in making the other feel loved. Want to learn more? I encourage you to pick up the book or check out the website http://www.5lovelanguages.com. But guess what? The love languages work for every other relationship as well, for children, friends, co-workers, pastors, etc.. I’ve recently heard recommended a similar book as well, “How to improve your marriage without talking about it.” I pray God abundantly blesses all our married couples!
Peace,
Fr. Greg