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Three Practices for a Lasting Marriage
The science confirms what the Church has taught all along We live in an age of marital pessimism. Divorce has touched almost every family, and many couples walk down the aisle quietly wondering whether they’ll beat the odds. The statistics are sobering – somewhere between 30 and 50 percent of marriages in Western countries will end in divorce.…
Read MoreTime, Energy, Attention — Three Words Every Marriage Needs
I recently had a delightful and thought-provoking meeting with Fr. Patrick Toohey from the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth. During it he asked me what do I thought all relationships require? The answer? An acronym: T.E.A. which stands for: Time, Energy, and Attention — and according to Fr. Patrick, these are the three ingredients that every lasting marriage is built on. You can’t buy them, fake them, or borrow them. You can only choose…
Read MoreIs ‘Grace Alone’ Enough for Marriage?
What YOUCAT Love Forever Says About the Real Work of Marriage Recently a young man in the SmartLoving Engaged course asked for a refund. The reason? He felt the practical relationship skills were unnecessary, and that a good marriage required one thing only: to live a life in the grace of God. It’s a perspective that sounds beautiful on the surface. And he wasn’t entirely wrong – grace is foundational to…
Read MoreBringing Mercy to your Marriage
It’s Divine Mercy Sunday this week, one of our favourite feasts. Inspired by the writings of St Faustina, a Polish visionary of the 20th century, this feast honours God’s infinite capacity for forgiveness. We’ve had more than a few spats in our marriage. There. We’ve said it. People often expect us to be somehow impervious…
Read MoreWhen Marriages Rise from the Dead
The power of forgiveness can bring even the most broken marriage back to life Good Friday confronts us with something as remarkable: an innocent man, nailed to a cross, gasping out words that should have been rage or despair – but weren’t. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Lk 23:34) We’ve sat with those words…
Read MoreSeven Habits of Effective Communicators
Almost everyone agrees that communication – good communication – is essential to successful relationships. But what constitutes ‘good’ communication? The answer to that all depends on our goals, which will be different for various relationships and dependent on the circumstances. If our goal is to give clear instructions to an employee, it will call for…
Read MoreOpenness to Life is for All of Us
It’s not uncommon to have couples of advanced years in the SmartLoving Engaged course. One or both may be widowed or they may have only found love and a vocation to marriage after many decades of single life. Sometimes they express confusion or frustration that their marriage preparation course includes fertility awareness education. For example, recently a widower in…
Read MoreThe Rise of the Fur Baby
Fur babies: substitute child, family asset or living therapy doll? In this blog we discuss some different views on the rise of the Fur Baby culture. For years, our daughter pleaded with us for a dog – every birthday, every Christmas, the same earnest plea. And for years, we had our stock reply: “We’d have another baby before…
Read MoreLent: A Marriage Make-over Opportunity
Lent – the annual invitation to lean in closer to the Lord in our pursuit of holiness through fasting, prayer and almsgiving. This year, we’re looking to do something together to grow both in faith and love. It’s typical to approach Lent as individuals, each of us committing to our own plan of renewal. Yet our marriage vocation reminds us that…
Read MoreRomance and Mystery
One of the things that makes a new romance so exciting and attractive is the element of uncertainty: Is this person really interested in me? Will this person really be the one I’ve longed for? We can all relate to the thrill of the start-up relationship where the other is essentially still a stranger…
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