n October of 2015 Pope Francis did something remarkable. He canonized a married couple. The couple is St. Louis Martin and Zélie Guérin the father and mother of St. Therese of Lisieux. The Catholic Church honors them this week, July 12, and it is a wonder and joy to celebrate with them. One small fact, July 12th was chosen as their memorial because it is their wedding anniversary date.

This blessed day occurred 6 years after I began my journey as a priest with the Worldwide Marriage Encounter movement (WWME) and it was a joyous day because it confirmed what I had experienced my whole life, had been intimately involved as a priest in parish work and seeking to deepen the holiness of marriage through WWME, the reality of how many married couples where saints. These hidden lives doing the hard and unnoticed work with the parish often as couples serving together in carrying Jesus and his Word of love into the world.
“The Christian life, eucharistically lived by the faithful in the reality of marriage and the family, thus becomes a paradigm for every type of human relationship, above all for those which constitute the ecclesial community. In the life of the people of God, the family educates all the faithful to understand their relationships—even those tied to the sacramental task of presbyterial ministry—according to the nuptial dynamic of the sacrament.” (p. 303 “The Nuptial Mystery” Angelo Cardinal Scola)

The “nuptial mystery” begins with the understanding of the feminine and masculine reality found within the sacramental union. It is discovered as noted in the life of Louis and Zélie, through the great joy and excruciating sorrow found in marriage, family and the living in a community of faith in the world. It is as Cardinal Scola notes, through the family, a foundational school of love, mercy and forgiveness practiced again and again in the lived example of faithfulness which poured out into the world as an example of the Trinitarian love of God. It is the hope filled example that is attractive in nuptial love becoming a blessing for the couple, the family and the world.
And this is one of the true blessings WWME has shared with me as a priest; the dedicated service of couples offering their marriage as a blessing in the Church. But there is more….searching the internet you do find other married couples that have been canonized by the Church, many are from the early Church and some newer but we have the example of Sts. Timothy and Maura who were martyred after a month of married life. In the late 3rd century, this young couple, just 20 and 17 years of age, were put to the test. The hagiography of their martyrdom tells the story of prayer and choosing to lose a life to save a soul.

The reality of the power of prayer as an individual, but more importantly as a Church calls us to a unity in Jesus Christ. Married couples, in the example of this brave young couple, are called to prayer—prayer for each other, prayer for their family and prayer for the world—as a living witness to the presences of the Trinitarian God at the center of their marriage. The family, as Pope St. John Paul II taught, is the “domestic church”, the “little church” in reviving the ancient teachings of our faith. It is being the domestic church that all married couples and all families are invited to participate in the prayer of the Church in filling their home with gracious sacramental love in prayer, service and acts of unity.
“Praying together builds intimacy in your relationship together. Christina and I get into super deep conversations and analyze problems up and down. We can make up plans, flow charts, mind maps, but nothing except prayer gives us the peace of mind we need…Creating a habit of prayer is more than a lifesaver throughout your marriage. It is inviting the best advisor, father, therapist, and power into your lives to make them whole and healed. It is celebrating every moment and acknowledging your source and why you are together.”( p117-8 from “Boundless love” by Christina and Javier Llerena)
It is in the power of a sacramental couple in prayer, were the Church enters into the deeper healing relationships of love in setting their hearts on the firm foundation of God’s unimaginable love for us becoming the light drawing us into the surrendering of the one into the unity of trinitarian grace and love.

In this we encounter the life of St.s Priscilla and Aquila, disciples, friends and companions of St. Paul. They are referred to several times in St. Paul’s letters and in the history of his life. Priscilla and Aquila are noted for their “witness to conjugal love.” While no children are mentioned in Sacred Scripture, early traditions and writings note that this couple had at least two sons who may have been with St. Peter in Rome at the time of his martyrdom.
The witness to conjugal love can and often does focus of the gift of the child. This generous fruit of marriage from God begins the pattern, as was noted above, of the passing on the tradition, knowledge and practice of the faith. Bishop Sheen noted it also introduces a new and different understanding of humbleness before the gift and blessing of life as he writes, “The child makes men humble as the thought of God makes men humble. There is little difference between the two, for the child is in a certain sense, “Emmanuel,” or “God with us”. Great depths of true wisdom are hidden in the heart of those parents who always say their night prayers before the crib of the last born child. In that, as yet wordless Word, they see not the increase of their image, but the very mage and likeness of God” (P159, from “Three to Get Married”)
Priscilla and Aquila, as fellow evangelist with St. Paul were a visual reminder of the family as foundation but also of the important role of marriage and family in God’s plan of salvation and redemption in the world. In Marriage Encounter we often see in the struggle of raising children in a society often at odds with Christian values, the strength of love that is drawn from parents, husbands and wives, as they seek to form their family in the image of the Holy Family that pours love into the world it is in this effort where mercy and forgiveness truly become rich and abundant in the hearts of all.

The final word I will give to Fr. Chuck Gallagher SJ, the founding priest for WWME in the United States, “Inside the heart of each and everyone of us there is a longing to be understood by someone who really cares. When a person is understood, he can put up with almost anything in this world. Yet often this misunderstanding is missing in marriage. Our confusion is further complicated by the fact that it isn’t particularly fashionable to talk favorably about marriage, unless we are honeymooners or celebrating a golden anniversary. We have little experience in living together, and almost all the advice given to married couples is aimed at telling them how to lead separate lives.” (P. 146, “The Marriage Encounter”)
Inside each of us is a heart created and formed by a creative and generous God made for love. To love and to recieve love. We all understand how families are often hurt and wounded, but we also know the only solution is a word, action and prayer of mercy an love. It is where we bring our burdens and allow our wounded hearts, united in love to find rest in the beating of the heart of love, the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
God bless
Fr. Mark