Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it. (Mt. 13:45-46)
by Judy ClarkThe Situation
Tom and Maribeth are college sweethearts married 29 years. They feel they have a stable marriage that has involved raising four children. It has been a wild ride of parenthood with a few hair-raising experiences. Still, they both agree that all four have been successfully launched into adulthood. And now that their youngest has recently married, they are truly an “empty nest” marriage, not just the “shifting nest” of college years and a few years beyond.
by Lauri PrzybyszThey say that when a man marries a woman, he thinks, “She’s the one I’ve been waiting for. She’ll never change.” – and she always does. And a woman looks at her man, and thinks, “He just needs a little work; after we’re married, I’ll help him change” – and he never does.
This article was originally published at Grace Filled Mind. It is reprinted below in its original format.
“The future is in your hearts and in your hands. God is entrusting to you the task, at once difficult and uplifting, of working with Him in the building of the civilization of love.”
-Saint John Paul II
“This love is above all fully human, a compound of sense and spirit. It is not, then, merely a question of natural instinct or emotional drive. It is also, and above all, an act of the free will, whose trust is such that it is meant not only to survive the joys and sorrows of daily life, but also to grow, so that husband and wife become in a way one heart and one soul, and together attain their human fulfillment.” Blessed Paul VI
February 7-14 marks the annual celebration of National Marriage Week USA which the U.S. Bishops say is a time to "focus on building a culture of life and love that begins with supporting and promoting marriage and the family.
Two flight attendants had the honor of having their civil marriage blessed by Pope Francis while on a flight from Santiago to Iquique in Chile earlier this week.
I have been an apologist for Catholic Answers since 2003. When people find out how long I've been with Catholic Answers, they sometimes ask, "What is the most-asked question you receive?" That's easy: Can I go to this wedding? The question has been asked so often, in fact, that in 2007 I created a checklist for laypeople to use to decide for themselves if they could go to a particular wedding. In the years since, that checklist has become one of the most-viewed apologist Q&A's on the Catholic Answers Forums, with over 75,000 views.
