September 16.   In the family groups there were young and older couples but as Michael said, “We all have this responsibility to prepare for anything important in life that is necessary. In the Church we prepare for the various sacraments, baptism, 1st communion, Reconciliation and Confirmation but in a peculiar way preparation for Marriage as a sacrament of a way of life is different as it is preparing children and teenagers in the family, all the time, for the way of life, living together in our special committed relationship. You will learn more in catechism classes, youth groups and retreats over the years but the example at home and what we observe in other families is, I believe, the most important form of preparation.  Yes Ruby, you and Jim will prepare for your wedding too on a special course.”  

 Doris told her friends at school. “I am very impressed by my uncle and aunt. I like the way he treats her like a lady. I wish my mom had someone to be like that for her.”  Paul kept quiet. Everyone in his house was always being told to shut up.  Mabel laughed as she shared, “My mom and dad celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary and we had a super party, but I wonder why mom cried.”

 Beloved, let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith in purity.   1 Tim 4:12-16.

 A Christian lifestyle, witnessed to by Christian families, is in itself a form of evangelization and the foundation of remote preparation. It is in the family, the domestic church, that Christian parents are the first witnesses and educators of the children both in the growth of “faith, hope and charity”, and in each child discovering his or her own vocation. PCF Prep 28.  Enabling families to take up their role as active agents of the family apostolate calls for an effort at evangelisation and catechesis inside the family. This is a call for missionary conversion by everyone in the Church, one that is not content to proclaim a merely theoretical message without connection to peoples’ real problems. AL 200-1

  • 10 COMMANDMENTS FOR A HAPPY MARRIAGE.
  • Never both be angry at the same time
  • Never yell at each other unless the house is on fire.
  • If one of you has to win an argument let it be your spouse.
  • If you have to criticise, do it lovingly.
  • Never bring up mistakes of the past.
  • Neglect the whole world rather than each other.
  • Never go to sleep with an unfinished quarrel.
  • At least once every day try to say one kind or complimentary thing to your life’s partner.
  • When you have done something wrong be ready to admit it and ask for forgiveness.
  • Remember, it takes two to start a quarrel! 

ECO-TIP AND PRAYER:   Decide and discuss how to become an eco-friendly + family-friendly society.  Pray for a lasting eco-friendly focus in all families.   Pray, Glory be to the Father……………