The Joyful Marriage Project
February 12, 2017
Today is world marriage Sunday. Recently, at a meeting someone asked the Archbishop, “Has the church announced a theme for this year?” You may recall we have recently celebrated the Year of Mercy, the Year of Faith, the Year of St. Paul . . . He said, “No, the pope hasn’t announced a theme for the universal church, but here locally, I would like to make this the year of marriage and the family.” In fact, Archbishop Naumann has asked all the parishes this weekend to focus on marriage. In fact the Archdiocese Marriage and Family Life office has produced a video called the Joyful Marriage Project. You can watch this video on the Archdiocese Website.
Many parishes are showing this video at Mass this weekend, but since we do not have the capacity to show the video at Mass, you get to hear us preach!
The Joyful Marriage Project compares building a healthy and strong marriage to building a strong and sturdy home. Every solid home first has a good foundation.
The foundation of marriage is Christ. I tell my engaged couples: “It takes three to marry – the bride, the groom and God.” You want love to be at the heart of your marriage and the bible says, “God is love,” which means God has to be the heart and foundation of marriage. Humanly speaking marriage is difficult, but with Christ all things are possible.
I remember visiting with an elderly couple who had been married 60 plus years and I asked them what would you tell young couples today about how to build a strong marriage. The husband immediately piped up and said, “Father, my wife and I kneel down every night before we go to bed and we pray together. We lift up to God all our joys and sorrows and we know with God is in our life there is no obstacle that we cannot overcome. And we never go to bed angry with each other.”
Prayer is so foundational and basic – but do we do it? I’m sure everyone that’s married would say, “We want to strengthen our bonds of intimacy with in marriage!” We want to be united and close. Think for a minute about the word intimacy: In to me see. The more you self-disclose and reveal yourself the more intimacy will grow. Well, our faith is something very personal and the more you are willing to share that within marriage, the deeper your intimacy will be. Prayer is a very intimate moment as you share something very personal with your spouse.
Look, prayer transforms us. If you want to be a better husband and father or wife and mother, pray! That being said, you may want to sign your spouse up for a Holy Hour in our Adoration chapel! Holy couples pray together. Please consider praying the rosary together. Pray the chaplet of Divine Mercy together. Maybe at the three o’clock hour you stop and say a prayer for each other.
In addition to prayer, come to church together to worship God. CARA – the Center for Applied Research at Georgetown did a study on marriage and they discovered the single most common thread of those who have success in marriage is that the couple goes to church together. It is here at Mass that we enter into Communion with Jesus but also our communion with each other is strengthened. Your communion in marriage will be strengthened.
The foundation of marriage is Jesus. Keep God at the center. Now, as you build home you want sturdy walls, a good roof that’s going to protect you from storms and bad weather. So too as a couple grows in marriage they need to learn skills to strengthen their marriage
Archbishop Naumann is asking all married couples this year to do something intentional to enrich and strengthen your marriage. What are we talking about? Married couples take time to focus on your couple relationship. It can be so easy to get swallowed up in the busyness of your children’s lives that you begin to take each other for granted as a married couple. Remember the most important thing you can give your children is a strong marriage. What kids need most are parents who love each other.
So, married couples consider going on a Living in Love Retreat or a Marriage Encounter. Here at St. Michael we are going to be offering three date nights: March 25, April 1, and April 8. You are invited to gather here at St. Michael for a presentation and then go out to dinner and discuss what you learned. Childcare will be available. There are also numerous online resources. I invited you to go to our St. Michael website and simply click on the Joyful Marriage Project. There are all kinds of resources: a 30 day – e-mail retreat, an online virtues program, and videos to strengthen marriage. Also, I want to invite anyone who needs help with an annulment or getting their marriage validated in the church to give us a call. We are here to help.
After you build your dream home, you want to open the doors and invite others to see it. So, too in marriage, you may not realize how important your witness is to the rest of us. St. Paul says marriage is a sacred mystery – the root word for sacrament. A sacrament is an outward visible sign. Do you know what marriage is a sign of? St. Paul says the love of husband and wife is a visible sign to the world of Christ’s love for his bride the church. Married couples are a visible sign of how much God loves us. We need your witness!
When we see the sacrifice that you make for each other in marriage, we are reminded of how much Christ sacrificed for us – he gave his life for us. When we see your fidelity, we are reminded of how faithful Jesus is to us. When we see your openness to life, we are reminded how life-giving Christ’s love is for us. He wants to give his bride eternal life.
Marriage is the foundation of the family and as the family goes so goes our nation. Now, more than ever we need the witness of Christian married couples. I would like to impart a special blessing now to all those who are married . . .