Dear Parishioners and Friends of St. Mary of the Lake:           

February 14 will be Valentines’ Day –the day that highlights Love. I’d like to share with you two special excerpts in which Pope Francis talks about marital love & relationship :
 
✠    The First one is taken from the Pope’s address to Engaged Couple (at St. Peter’s Square) Feb 4, 2014:  “A marriage is not successful just because it endures; quality is important. To stay together and to know how to love one another forever is the challenge for Christian couples. What comes to mind is the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves: for you, too, the Lord can multiply your love and give it to you fresh and good each day. He has an infinite reserve! He gives you the love that stands at the foundation of your union, and each day renews and strengthens it. And he makes it ever greater when the family grows with children. On the journey prayer is important; it is necessary, always: he for her, she for him, and both together. Ask Jesus to multiply your love. In the prayer of the Our Father, we say, ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’ Spouses can also learn to pray like this” ‘ Lord, give us this day our daily love,’ for the daily love of spouses is bread, the true bread of the soul; what sustains them in going forward… This is the prayer for engaged couple and spouses… The more you trust in Him, the more your love will be ‘forever,’ able to be renewed, and it will conquer every difficulty.”
             

✠    The Second is taken from the Pope’s General Audience (at St. Peter’s Square) April 2, 2014:  “Married life is such a beautiful thing, and we must treasure it always, treasure the children… There are three words that always need to be said, three words that need to be said at home: May I, Thank You, and Sorry. The three magic words, May I, so as not to be intrusive in the life of the spouses. May I, but how does it seem to you?  May I, please allow me. Thank You, to thank one’s spouse: Thank You for what you did for me, Thank You for this. That beauty of giving thanks!  And since we all make mistakes, that other word, which is a bit hard to say but which needs to be said; Sorry. Please, Thank You, and Sorry.  With these three words, with the prayer of the husband for the wife and vice versa, by always making peace before the day comes to an end, marriage will go forward. The three magic words, prayer, and always making peace.


    As we formally kick off of the year Celebrating a Century of Blessings , may each and all of us be authentic disciples of Jesus: Rediscovering Him, Following Him, Worshiping Him, and sharing His Love


Fr. Philip