August 23    Marriage is….  Ask any group of people, young or old, married or single to define marriage and you may come up with a wide range of responses …………… In one group some said, … “for happiness, for children, for friendship, for love.  Marriage is lots of give and very little take, a partnership, fun, hard work.  Marriage is the only way to survive the hazards of modern society.  Marriage is something that can make people love one another and sometimes hate one another. It is the longest thing one goes into without knowing what is on the other side. Julie said to herself, “Marriage is also a neglected sacrament, even as a foundational sacrament of the Church, for life.“

Before getting started on these daily reflections it is a good idea to reflect seriously on one’s own attitude towards marriage.  How has your attitude developed?  What has been your life experience of marriage around you?  Are you open to deepening your understanding and appreciation? 

The marriage covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of their whole life, and which of its very nature is ordered to the well-being of the spouses and to the procreation and upbringing of children, has between the baptized, been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament. Vatican II.  Gaudium et Spes 48