Marriage - so beautiful and full and demanding a vocation - an eventual image of the life of Christ

[Edward_H]

I’m wondering if we can examine this subject, perhaps as a way to improve our marriages by contemplating the life of Christ.

Perhaps we could go through all of the mysteries of the rosary and think deeply about them, reflecting on how the life of Christ seen through the eyes of His mother (and our mother) reveals particular virtues or graces related to different aspects of a Catholic marriage, fully and generously lived.

And then not stopping there, but going through all the stations of the Cross to further examine how Jesus wants to teach us how to love, loving our bride or husband eventually with His own heart and His will too. A work of a lifetime, just like Our Lord’s.

So maybe we could start with the Annunciation.

How does Mary’s response to God’s invitation resemble our own response to God’s invitation to marry one of His own adopted children, that is, my bride, your bride or groom?

Do I as trustingly accept God’s invitation as Mary?

Is my acceptance of my marriage as eager and selfless and wholly complete as Mary’s?

Is my surprise in God’s grace and HIS trust in me ever new?

etc. etc.

Who wants to do this with me?

Feel totally free to add other questions to help us in our contemplation.

 

[goout]

Love is creative. Whole-hearted response to vocation involves sacrifice for the other. That sacrifice is creative and brings joy and peace and the fruits of the Spirit.

Mutual self giving sacrifice.
Ephesians 5 sacrifice.

 

[Maximilian75]

So much of the time, marriage is assumed as the ‘default’ vocation for Catholics.
It has all the same complexity, beauty, and mystery of Holy Orders and the consecrated life, and yet gets so little focus.
JP2 made major strides in amending this in his Theology of the Body, and his work continues.

 

[goout]

Theology of the Body is the document that will transform this century IMO.
It is the Catholic Answer to the cultural ills that are plaguing us. And it is just beginning to be unpacked. Seminaries are talking about it and the newer priests have a grasp of it.

If I had to predict, I would predict that in 500 years, St John Paul will be seen as a modern day St Augustine, in that his thinking and writing have a once in a millenium profundity that forms the way Christians think, pray, and live.
I am amazed that more Catholics are not yet fluent in this language, but it takes time.

Marriage transformed my life, to the degree that I gave the same answer Mary gave, as Edward noted in his OP.

 

[Maximilian75]

I would love to see a JP3 in the future who will take up Wojtyła’s mantle of ToB

 

[goout]

Here’s to daily death to self, and rising to new life, creative, joyful, peaceful.
(I don’t have a pint but if I did it would be tipped up, with my wife, on our patio)

 

[Edward_H]

Taking up the next mystery of the Rosary, and applying it to marriage.

The Visitation.

Do I eagerly “set out at once” to take care of my spouse and our children?

Do I undergo great risk (physical, my reputation, my comfort, my plans, my desires my preferences) to see after my wife and chldren, making their vives more pleasant at every turn, quietly, perhaps without their notice?

Do I bring Jesus, as Mary did to her cousin’s family, including St John in her womb, to others, causing “great joy” in them?

How is my desire to bring joy to others? Do I do it willingly eagerly, regularly, with constancy and naturalness?

Can others sense God by His presence in me, pehaps without a single word?

Do their spirits seem to lift up simply by my cheerfulness and my greeting?

Does anyone else have any thoughts, insights, or “questions” to pose stemming from this mystery of the Rosary, ones that we might ponder in the light of our married vocation?

 

[Edward_H]

Continuing.

The Birth of Jesus, and how contemplating on His birth can help our marriage and parenting.

Do I give birth again to Jesus in my actions, moods, thoughts, personal resolutions?

Do I try to make my own life - each day, and the whole thing - a beautiful and natural extension of the Incarnation?

Do I push back foul moods by recalling the joy Mary and St Joseph had when Jesus was born?

Does the simplicity and beauty of birth itself help me regain a simplicity in my own approach to family life, to work, to friendship? Do I accept that I don’t have to know everything to live as a good son or daughter of a loving Father God?

Do I approach Jesus as a child? Does a certain sense of spiritual childhood keep me buoyant amid the demands of marital and parental life?

Do I regularly help others - family members and friends - simplify matters, perhaps reminding them that they are children of God?

 

[Witkey]

Thank you for these thoughts/questions. I just recently started praying the rosary, and am trying to use it as something that will help me in my marriage. I wish I had been a Christian when I was married and received marriage counseling beforehand. I thought I knew what marriage was about and what was required. Daily death to self is by far the biggest thing. Learning to accept another’s self centered will is another, too. Putting self last, on everything is often required. I do know one thing though, God is there to help, even though I’m weak. He’s there even though I’m lonely. And something that has tremendously helped has been switching to the Catholic Church. I feel at peace in Mass. I will work on these questions! Thank you!

 

[Edward_H]

Marvlelous insights and helps. Thank you. You could write a book!

 

[Edward_H]

Contemplating for a moment the third of the Joyful mysteries: The Nativity, and how through His birth Our Lord is giving us graces for our marriage and our parenting.

What is stopping me from having more wonder and natural piety about Our Lord’s birth? Do I let routine and even cynicism enter into my disposition without confronting it energetically, with God at my side?

Do I draw strength to live a life of great generosity in my marriage and my parenthood from the spiritual childhood that God wants to give me, from the mystery of His own birth?

Does my usual way around the home express the joy of Our Lady and St Joseph? Have I asked for this grace from God?

Am I too big or mature to be moved by “reverence” in the presence of Jesus in the Holy Tabernacle every time I enter a Catholic Church? Or do I see that a natural and deliberate and calm genuflection as an outward sign of my adoration and love for Jesus Christ?

Do I help my children learn how to love God with all one’s heart, mind, soul, strength, and even with one’s body?

 

[Edward_H]

How can a brief contemplation on the The Fourth Joyful mystery (The Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple) help my marriage and parenting?

Does my gratitude for the gift of my life and Your promise of heaven move me to present all things of my life - one by one - to You my Father God? How do I practice keeping my gratitude ever new? Do I ask for graces and opportunities to do so, especially with my spouse and my children?

Do I see Your hand and Your will in everything that happens to me, in my marraige, in family life, and at work too?

Do I try to “convert” all my work, my troubles, my efforts, my joys into a endless prayer (a running dialog) of adoration and thanksgiving to You?

Do I accept the joys and difficulties of each day (great or small) with equal gratitude, knowing that You’re always working to bring about the greatest good in my life and the lives of those I love, even though I may not see Your full and glorious plan?

Have I let one hour pass today without thanking You for creating me and making me an adopted son or daughter of Yours? Have I asked You to help me to be more thankful for my spouse and for all - and each - of my children recently?

 

[Edward_H]

On “Finding the Child Jesus in the Temple”, how does this Joyful Mystery fuel and guide my marriage?

Is the source of strength and energy for my marriage and parenting Jesus Christ? Does my love for Him cause me to seek Him in and through the events of my marriage?

Do I draw nearer to Him in the Tabernacle frequently during the week, perhaps making a brief visit to Our Lord at a nearby Church? Does my finding Him spill out into joy for my spouse and my children?

Does the peace of Christ provide for my interior peace? Do I ask Jesus for His peace well before “I really need it”?

If I can’t make it to a Church, do I “visit” Our Lord in a Tabernacle of my own making, using the imagination that God gave me to adore Him, to thank Him, to ask for things from Him that I need to love my family more?

Do I help others look for Christ, perhaps helping see God’s hand and love in various ordinary events of their lives? Do they know what moves me to love generously and patiently and tenderly, as if Jesus Christ was caring for each one of them?

 

[Edward_H]

Moving on to the Luminous mysteries and how they can help our marriage.

Baptism of Our Lord.

Does I frequently renew my gratitude for becoming an adopted child of God, by thanking God for my Baptism?

Do I celebrate in some small way each year my Baptismal day?

Do I help my family and others to understand more fully the meaning of their Baptism, and its infinite value?

Do see in Confession a means of regaining my spiritual childhood and purity of relationship with God and my wife and children? Do I go frequently and confess manfully, simply and sincerely?