God, our Father created each person,and so knows us perfectly . When we marry , it is only the Father who knows how two different persons can come into perfect unity-- which is the call in marriage . The sacrament of marriage which the Father gave to Jesus for His Church , has the particular graces EACH couple needs to grow into unity and become the sound foundation in which to bring forth care for one another and any childrenGod desires to give this couple . When a couple come before our Heavenly Father to ASK and RECEIVE daily graces through their Sacrament , the Father gives these graces freely to the couple . There is no need for great struggle to work the marriage , since the Father desires to give the couple His own unity from the Trinity itself . St. Paul writes that we are saved by grace alone- all our skills and knowledge have NO power to save us --we are saved by the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ FOR our salvation... This saving power of Jesus is freely available to each couple daily if we ASK for it and then RECEIVE these graces . God tells us that His favorite dwelling place is in the souls and of His beloved children , who He forming as His family . Father wants to give us these graces and will do so every time we ask Him , especially as a couple . We can also stop every new juncture in our day , and ASK FOR and RECEIVE the graces for our new task. Truly the Fatherdelights in caring for His beloved children , now and into eternity ! Prayers to seek the graces of the Sacrament of marriage " Heavenly Father, we come to You to ask for the graces of our Sacrament for today. Open our hearts to receive from You ,all that You desire to give us today . We pray for deeper unity with You, Our Father--we ask for a deeper unity with one another as a couple , and deeper unity with the Body of Christ , our Church ." Then take a few minutes of quiet -- together before God , to receive these graces. Generally , you will feel a peacefulness as the graces ' flow' from Heaven into your hearts. Sometimes you feel nothing , but are' quietly ok' . Then simply go about your day with God-with -you. At each new ' juncture ' of your day , whether alone or together STOP for a few moments . Often , an Our Father or a Hail Mary will help you to become quiet - then again ask Our Heavenly Father what He desires for you to do next , wait a few minutes til you receive the grace for your next task, then go and do it !
Beautiful! I will ask my husband if he will participate in the above with me. You never know this may be the opening for sincere conversion! and it certainly beats nagging and/or ignoring. Thank you Debra and welcome to the forum.
Thank you for sharing this Debra, it's a good reminder for me anyway to do this. I know of a couple of French mystics who mention the same thing, about praying for the release of Graces from our Sacraments including marriage. It's not like these Sacraments have an expiration date and we should be praying again for their renewal and release of Graces associated with them. Years ago, I had also heard an exorcist priest say that we can pray for the renewal of our baptism by asking the Holy Spirit to renew our souls by washing us over with baptismal waters as we renew the baptismal promise. We have so many Graces available to us, but we do forget to call upon them often for help in our spiritual growth.
Thank you, Andree. We also renew our baptismal promises at the Easter Mass and the priest sprinkles us with Easter water. Or he used to, before the pandemic.
