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What I learnt from the Marriage prep seminars is that marriage is a lifelong journey that requires love, forgiveness, tolerance and compromise. The husband and wife must complement each other
Marriage is a sacrament from God which is for the salvation for those who cannot remain on their own, chaste or become monks. In that respect I see marriage as a martyrdom which requires a lot of hard work and commitment to help the couple gain salvation.
However, the central point in all marriages is Christ without Him it will be difficult to sail through the stormy waters which will confront all married couples during that life long journey. All marriages have challenges and that’s where Christ, if we have Him in our midst and allow Him, teaches us tolerance and self-sacrifice.
In all marriages communication is vital and the ‘glue’ which holds the relationship together. Honest communication is instrumental in any relationship and requires compromise and more importantly humility. Communication is about being heard, validated and loved. So listening is a key ingredient. (‘Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry’) (James 1:19)
In today’s world there are many distractions which can impact upon any relationship, ie work, financial stress and technology just to name a few. However, in today’s uncertain and ever changing world financial security is very important – money causes many troubles within relationships either chasing too much or not having enough. The equilibrium is to learn to live within your own means. We need to always remember that money does not always bring you happiness.
Marriage then can be summed up as a path of pain. A journey together where the pain is shared along with the joy. All marriages will have hardships just as life brings trials and tribulations but it will also have many blessings and beautiful things if we allow Christ to be our centre. He will help us carry our cross during the journey and provide the path from this life into eternity.
