Greetings,
Code:
My husband has just informed me via phone that he will not attend the Retrouvaille weekend encounter which was scheduled for next weekend. I cannot believe it! We argued and I cried, said goodbye and hung up. This is all so difficult for me, he would rather attend non counseling because he did want anyone telling him that he should stay married because of the "Catholic Dogma". Please advise me.
God bless.
Sol, your husband needs to know that your attempt at saving your marriage is not primarly due to Cathoilc teaching, it is due to the fact that you love him and are having his baby. It is due to the fact that this baby needs both parents to be truly fulfilled in his / her life. It is because of the fact that you are both united as one family, and that is why, not because of Church teaching. The Catholic teaching on this matter exists because life necessitates the teaching to exist. As you can see, not following the teaching brings about pain and sorrow and can break apart an entire family. You’re not following the Church teaching because the Church tells you to, you’re following it because life dictates you to follow it. If your husband sees this reality, he may look at this differently. Instead of looking at the Church as an entity that proclaims something contrary to his current desires, he might see that the Church teaching merely echos the teachings of life that we all should abide by in order to live out a happy and productive life. The Catholic Church teaches, just as the Bible does, that no man shall separate what God has joined as one (St. Matthew 19:6, St. Mark 10:9).
I will continue to pray for you, Sol, for your baby, and for your husband’s conversion. I will continue to pray that the Holy Spirit works within him and bring about the gifts of the Spirit which can convert the most hardened of individuals. I will continue to pray for your reconciliation and for love to radiate from all three of you for the rest of your life.
Our Father who art in Heaven
Hallowed be Thy Name
Thy Kingdom come
Thy will be done
'on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily Bread
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us
and lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
Avē Marīa, grātia plēna, Dominus tēcum.
Benedicta tū in mulieribus, et benedictus frūctus ventris tuī, Iēsus.
Sancta Marīa, Māter Deī, ōrā prō nōbīs peccātōribus, nunc et in hōrā mortis nostrae.
Amen
