Marriage Topics

"Every marriage is an event in human history," declared renowned preacher Msgr. Ronald Knox, articulating the animating principle of Bridegroom and Bride. "In the tapestry that Divine Providence weaves out of our lives, love of man for woman and love of woman for man" is the underlying structure.

Msgr. Knox delivered a treasure trove of wedding homilies -- whether at the marriages of earls or those of numerous former students whom he served as chaplain. The result is this classic spiritual gem of a collection containing twenty-four wedding sermons befitting for both engaged and married couples as well as all seekers of genuine human affection. Each chapter is "the kind of thing for which five minutes is too short and ten minutes is too long."

With his customary charm, wisdom, and assurance, Msgr. Knox underscores the goodness and beauty of human love. Taking its cues from the features and Scripture readings of the nuptial liturgy, these precious pages illuminate the perfecting power of the Sacrament of Marriage and the grace of the covenant to sanctify and strengthen bride and bridegroom and their family unto eternal life.

The awe-inspiring meditations delve deeply into commonplace truths that are not often pondered. As Msgr. Knox reflects upon the words of the wedding vows and the wedding ritual, you will delight in finding:

Above all, you will see out how "nature is supernaturalized" in marriage, and "becomes the handmaid of grace," through which the husband and wife grow in holiness. As Msgr. Knox explains, through the Sacrament of Matrimony, the couple is taken up in the current of divine love and -- in their ordinary duties and lives of sacrifice -- live in worship of God. Through the intercession of the Holy Family, the husband and wife will begin to enjoy a love that finds its fulfillment in Heaven.

"A phenomenal gift for an engaged Catholic couple," wrote one reviewer. "Beautifully written, accessible, and theologically profound. You could easily read one sermon a night as spiritual preparation for your wedding day."

“The Catholic Church saved my marriage
and, quite possibly, my life.”

So begins David Anders in this remarkably forthright book. In it, David reports that by the early 2000s, his marriage was so painful he actually longed for death. It wasn’t simple incompatibility; he and his wife had just one thing in common: contempt for each other.

Today, David and his wife are happy together – not because of marriage therapy, but because they came to know and fully embraced the Catholic Church’s teachings on marriage.

Many people who encounter such teachings are shocked by their rigor. Yet the Church offers much more than rules about sexual restraint; she offers a way to make marriage into something supernatural, even mystical. 

Here Dr. Anders shares his personal discovery of the Church’s teaching on marriage and offers a robust defense of the Church’s most controversial teachings, including divorce, remarriage, gay marriage, and contraception.

With the Church’s teachings and the writings of the saints as his guide, he also offers practical, time-tested ways to improve your marriage, such as how to live in peace despite an unhappy marriage, the value of suffering, and ways to overcome your reluctance to forgive grave offenses.

In a culture that breaks apart marriages and undermines human dignity, Dr. David Anders offers a hope-filled alternative for those who live moral and spiritual lives in union with Christ and His Church.

Follow Steve Bollman on an amazing journey as he integrates the latest findings from modern science with the wisdom of the ages and a little common sense to expand your vision of marriage, including
- the neurological research revealing the reality that husband and wife truly "become one,"
- the medical science indicating that the human person transcends the limits of the visible world, and
- the neurological reality that spouses are driven to be profoundly merciful to each other.

Along the way, you'll hear amazing stories destined to touch your heart:
- the Nobel Laureate in Medicine who witnessed two instantaneous miracles,
- the mother whose prayers transformed the heart of a mafia enforcer, and
- a very special couple who reveals the power of love to transcend the limits of this world to have a foretaste of Paradise.

The Choice Wine will help you experience the superabundant joy intended for marriage from the beginning.

In a few short minutes, the Scripture quotes, passages from Church documents, and thoughts from the Saints which begin the days in this book will provide comfort and guidance for married couples as they seek to live their vocation to the fullest. A brief reflection and prayer complete this dynamic daily practice.

Winner of a Catholic Press Association Award: Family Life Books (First Place).

In Intimate Graces, bestselling author and Catholic media personality Teresa Tomeo and her husband, Dominick Pastore, invite couples to enrich their marriages by practicing the fourteen Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy. Through their own story and that of other married couples, Tomeo and Pastore demonstrate how reciprocating the works of mercy brings out the best in a marriage.

The Catholic Church encourages believers to perform Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, tangible actions that show charity toward others. In Intimate Graces, Teresa Tomeo and her husband, Dominick Pastore, demonstrate how applying the fourteen traditional virtues of Catholic spirituality can foster deeper intimacy in any marriage. The couple uses personal stories and reflections, as well as the experiences of other Catholic couples, to show how a husband and wife can become, in a real way, a haven of compassion and virtue for each other.

Tomeo and Pastore each write in their own voice and include reflection questions, practical suggestions, and a prayer at the end of each chapter.

May argues, drawing on Popes Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, that marriage fully respects the equal dignity of husband and wife as persons, while recognizing their unique, exclusive, enduring, complementary contributions to their union. Likewise, he shows how marriage honors the truth that each new human life brought about by sexual union is a person equal in dignity to his mother and father. What's more, both reason and revelation are used to show that only the family, founded on marriage as an enduring, mutually-exclusive union of one man and one woman, provides the proper context for begetting and raising children.

Reproductive technologies are also critically examined and the author argues that human beings ought to be begotten in an act of spousal love, not made through in vitro fertilization. Furthermore, the role of the family as the domestic church, a community of holiness, is explored. This expanded edition includes new chapters: 'Man and Woman He Created Them': Pope John Paul II's Catechesis on Human Sexuality and Pope Benedict XVI and Marriage, the latter summarizing Benedict's thought on marriage, particularly as found in his first encyclical Deus Caritas Est. Also included is Pope John Paul II's Letter to Families.

In this volume five Cardinals of the Church, and four other scholars, respond to the call issued by Cardinal Walter Kasper for the Church to harmonize "fidelity and mercy in its pastoral practice with civilly remarried, divorced people."

Beginning with a concise introduction, the first part of the book is dedicated to the primary biblical texts pertaining to divorce and remarriage, and the second part is an examination of the teaching and practice prevalent in the early Church. In neither of these cases, biblical or patristic, do these scholars find support for the kind of "toleration" of civil marriages following divorce advocated by Cardinal Kasper. This book also examines the Eastern Orthodox practice of oikonomia (understood as "mercy" implying "toleration") in cases of remarriage after divorce and in the context of the vexed question of Eucharistic communion. It traces the centuries long history of Catholic resistance to this convention, revealing serious theological and canonical difficulties inherent in past and current Orthodox Church practice.

Thus, in the second part of the book, the authors argue in favor of retaining the theological and canonical rationale for the intrinsic connection between traditional Catholic doctrine and sacramental discipline concerning marriage and communion.

The various studies in this book lead to the conclusion that the Church's longstanding fidelity to the truth of marriage constitutes the irrevocable foundation of its merciful and loving response to the individual who is civilly divorced and remarried. The book therefore challenges the premise that traditional Catholic doctrine and contemporary pastoral practice are in contradiction.

"Because it is the task of the apostolic ministry to ensure that the Church remains in the truth of Christ and to lead her ever more deeply into that truth, pastors must promote the sense of faith in all the faithful, examine and authoritatively judge the genuineness of its expressions and educate the faithful in an ever more mature evangelical discernment." - St. John Paul II, Familiaris Consortio

Dan and Amber DeMatte, who have worked together in youth and family ministry for more than fifteen years, believe it's holiness--living as Jesus did.

Giving and receiving love and living for the sake of others--especially your spouse and children--will help you achieve holiness, the DeMattes say. You can even find holiness in the everyday tasks of marriage and family life such as doing the dishes, changing diapers, and cleaning up messes.

In The Three Secrets to Holiness in Marriage, the DeMattes walk you through a thirty-three -day retreat that culminates in consecrating your marriage to Christ. They will help you achieve perfect love for each other, your family, and God by incorporating the virtues of poverty, chastity, and obedience into your life. This retreat will help you fall deeper in love with Christ, your spouse and children, and the world God calls you to serve.

Each chapter includes discussion questions and a prayer for couples.