"Marital love is usually lived in ordinary circumstances. As Christians we should learn to discover the extraordinary dimension of God's presence in everyday things and everyday life."
"Ordinary experience seems to conflict with 'high' theology. People do not have the confidence to believe that what happens to them in their simple family and marital relationship, can be special and beautiful."
"As a Church we have a rich vocabulary to express monastic and celibate spirituality, but we miss an adequate vocabulary to express the richness and variety of married love."
"Because leadership in the Church is so male and masculine, we miss the immensely rich feminine contribution. We miss the sharp intellectual acumen, the charm, the beauty, the depth, the poetry, the tender care and perceptive intuition of women in the way we pray, we worship, we theologise, we are Church and we live our Christian lives."
"God's word remains barren if it is not thought through <N><N>and given expression in actual life. To make God's word alive in marital relationships both women and men, and couples together, should be empowered to reflect on the Word and imprint its stamp on it."
"As a Church we often focus on remedial measures to help marriages in crisis. We do not give adequate support to couples as they more through the various stages of their married life, especially during the first five years of married life; at the arrival of their children; and when the couple continues to live together after the children have gone. Couples experience characteristic tensions and conflicts, challenges and hopes during each of these phases. They should be helped both physically (e.g. by providing baby sitting) and emotionally and intellectually (by helping them work through their task)."
"More use should be made of the natural events that are of immediate relevance to married couples: anniversaries of weddings, the first signs of pregnancy, the birth of a child, employment or non-employment of the wife, etc. These events should be celebrated and inserted into a process of deepening faith and widening spirituality."
Other related documents you might want to read:
Link to our partners: the International Academy for Marriage Spirituality. Their email address is info@intams.org.
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