Marriage in the Wilderness

It’s Lent – the season that recalls one of the great wilderness events in the Scriptures: Jesus fasting and being tempted for 40 days. What insights can we draw from this event for our marriage? We’ve heard the story many times: following his baptism in the Jordan River by John, Jesus spends forty days in…

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Best Lent Ever…For Your Spouse!

Lent as ultimate change maker

While lots of people make resolutions for the New Year, most of these optimistic beginnings fizzle out before the end of January. Thankfully, Lent gives we Christians another, and a better, chance of success. One year, about two decades ago, a close friend of ours shared with us how she decided to give up blame…

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St Valentine and Revolutionary Marriage

St Valentine

It’s St Valentine’s day next week. This year, it coincides with Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent and a traditional day for penance and fasting. Oh dear! What to do?! Some think this is a pity; normally we focus on romance and joy for the lover’s feast and it’s hard to do that on…

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The wrong kind of penance

It’s Lent again and time to think about reform in our spiritual lives by taking on some Lenten penance. But is all penance equal? The traditional Lenten traditions of prayer, fasting and almsgiving have been somewhat diluted by we moderns to very lame versions of what our forebears in faith used to do. Here’s what…

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