Here's another featured marriage enrichment resource from the SJE Lending Library. Borrow the book this weekend...
"Happy Together: The Catholic Blueprint for a Loving Marriage"
by John Bosio
"What you believe about your marriage and about your spouse shapes the way you treat your mate. Ultimately what you believe about marriage influences whether you are happy or miserable in your relationship, and whether you stay married or not.
We Christians believe that God intends for marriage to bring joy to the human heart. We are a gift to each other and find fulfillment and happiness together. However, being a gift is not easy. Fortunately God had given us Christ who shows us how to be a gift and gives us the graces to follow him.
St Paul advised the Ephesians: 'Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the Church.' (Ephesians 5:25) Blessed John Paul II echoed the words of Paul when he wrote in his Letter to Families (1994) 'Husbands and wives discover in Christ the point of reference for their spousal love.'
Happy Together asks the questions: How do we follow Christ's example in being a gift to each other? How are we to love our spouse as Christ loved the Church? The author finds the answer to these questions in Christ's acts of love for the Church as expressed in the Seven Sacraments.
In Baptism he welcomes us to his Kingdom.
In Confirmation he bind us to himself with the seal of the Holy Spirit.
In the Eucharist he gives himself totally to us, even to the point of dying on the cross.
In the sacrament of Reconciliation he forgives us.
In the Anointing of the Sick he heals us.
And in Holy Orders and Matrimony he serves the Church.
The Blueprint of Love, the qualities of spousal love that are explored in the chapters of this book are:
-Welcoming and Accepting each other
-Keeping our Commitment to being present to each other
-Being willing to Sacrifice for the sake of the relationship
-Forgiving and being willing to ask forgiveness
-Helping each other Heal
-and Serving each other and together Serving God.
In Christ's love for the Church we find the blueprint for our loving. When spouses follow the example of Jesus they become an image, a sacrament of divine love to each other and to their community.
Happy Together, the Catholic Blueprint for a Loving Marriage describes the blueprint for growth in your Christian marriage."
Explore more online resources from John Bosio at http://www.happy-together.net/
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