6 Ways to Improve Your Marriage – Part 2 of 2

What are some ways that you can improve your marriage, particularly as it relates to our faith in Jesus Christ? Last week, I gave three ways: either through…
1). Attending a Retrouvaille weekend for struggling marriages,
2). Attending a Marriage Encounter weekend to make a good marriage better, or
3). Through NFP (Natural Family Planning) for married couples who want to avoid contraception and yet authentically desire to live out the teachings of the Catholic Church when it comes to marriage and sexuality.

Today, I would like to share the other three ways (#s 4-6) to round out the “6 Ways to Improve Your Marriage” plus a BONUS at the end. Do you pray with your spouse? What about at Church or before meals? Any other times? Whether you do or you don’t, here is a program that could benefit your marriage, something we hope to offer soon either in our own parish or in the Blue Water Vicariate.

4). Prayer – “Together with Jesus: Couple Prayer Series” When I was on an internship year at Holy Family Parish in Novi, MI I was blessed to be at the house of a wonderful, married couple, Sue and Skip West, who interviewed couples for marriage preparation which included a pre-marriage inventory assessment called FOCCUS (Facilitating Open Couple Communication, Understanding and Study). Sue and Skip, while overcoming obstacles in their own marriage, had participated in the “Couple Prayer Series” twice and found that it had changed their marriage from not praying at all to a deep level of intimacy through prayer. Here’s an overview of what the “Couple Prayer Series” is:

It “was created to help married couples more fully enjoy the life-changing intimacy of praying together as husband and wife closely, comfortably and consistently.  Six DVDs plus included print materials provide a world of information and proven encouragements about the ‘whats,’ ‘whys,’ and ‘how-tos’ of successful couple prayer…”

In addition, the series can be broken down by weeks:
Week 1 – Laying Helpful Groundwork
Week 2 – Thanking God Together
Week 3 – Asking God’s Help Together
Week 4 – Praying With Scripture Together
Week 5 – Worshipping God Together
Week 6 – Praying for The Power to Forgive Together
For more information, go to http://www.coupleprayer.com

5). Read a Book – Intimate Graces: How Practicing the Works of Mercy Brings Out the Best in Marriage, a book co-authored by a married couple, Teresa Tomeo and her husband, Dcn. Dominic Pastore, may be a helpful read for couples who resonate with and want to connect with Pope Francis’ message of mercy in this Year of Mercy and apply it to their marriage. Teresa, a former Channel 2 – Metro Detroit news anchor, is the host of a national, Catholic, radio show called, “Catholic Connection,” featured on Ave Maria Radio (https://avemariaradio.net), which airs M-F, 8-10 am EST (990 AM in SE Michigan)…More about her and her husband, Dominic below…To order the book, go to http://www.amazon.com.

6). Listen to A Live Speaker – Teresa Tomeo and her husband, Dcn. Dominic Pastore, will be the featured, guest speakers as part of the continued “John Courtney Murray Distinguished Speaker Series” between St. Mary and Holy Trinity Parishes in Port Huron, MI. The couples will speak about their marriage at the Holy Trinity Parish-St. Stephen site in the church on Thursday evening, April 28th at 7pm. Mark your calendars! For more information on Teresa, go to http://www.teresatomeo.com.

BONUS * The Marriage Course – 8 Great Dates:

The “Marriage Course” comes from Alpha (alphausa.org), a popular parish evangelization program like ChristLife, that involves marriage enrichment, offers couples the opportunity to spend eight romantic evenings together and has practical topics designed to strengthen marriages. Our Lady of Good Counsel in Plymouth, MI (http://www.olgcparish.net), under the leadership of Fr. John Riccardo as well as his associate priest at the time, Fr. Steve Mateja, and some couples who helped run the program, were successful in implementing “8 Great Dates.” Here is how the “8 Great Dates” accompanied by talks are broken down:

1. Building Strong Foundations
2. Communication
3. Resolving Conflict
4. Power of Forgiveness
5. Impact of Family
6. Intimacy
7. Love in Action
8. Celebration Dinner

I would like to give a sincere compliment to Fr. John and his parish family, including the OLGC Family of Faith Committee, who used creativity, leadership and some good work to bolster a very important part of family life > marriage! For more info go to the following link: http://www.olgcparish.net/resources/files/events/8greatdates.pdf .

Praised be Jesus Christ!

Fr. Jeff Allan