House of Love

Well, our "House of Love" is surrounded by almost 13 inches of new snow!

(so far)

It's a peaceful snowfall, quiet and beautiful.

But, that's not what I'm writing this post about.

On Friday, my husband and I went to a "Cana Dinner" put on by our parish for married couples.

It's one of the many things they are doing for

"The Year of Marriage"

They had a wonderful dinner and 2 priests who talked.

At the end,

we, as couples stood and renewed our vows.
Father Greg Mastey, who is a wonderful speaker, gave such an interesting talk.

(I'm going to try my best to not butcher it)

He said, he often times, asks couples

"Tell me about your house."

They kind of look at him strange, and he goes on to explain.

They start telling him about how when they got married,

it was a small home, but when they had their first child,

they fixed this or that room,

they painted over the years,

as more children came,

they maybe added on a room or moved rooms around to fit their growing family.

Then, after the kids grew up,

they maybe remodeled or added on.

Marriage is not stagnant

As our house is not stagnant.

Our home is Creative, our marriage is creative.

(creation, not artistic creativity)
He went on to say,

that nowadays, couples start out with everything.

They buy these huge houses, with lots of rooms,

2 cars, a boat and their 1.2 children.

And they are stuck.

When couples have everything,

there is no room for love to grow and be creative.

(Read Colossians 3)

I think he said that St Josemaria Escriva said this:

(but I might be wrong as to the saint)

God will ask at the time of judgement:

1. Who am I to You?

2. Where is your spouse in relationship to me?

3. Where are your children in relationship to me?

He said to teach our children to grow deeper in love with Christ

and to stay in love!

Ephesians 6:10

Battle against Evil

"Finally, draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power."

He talked about our artillery.

What is your artillery?

What are we doing for battle?

He had us list things in our artillery bag, things like

praying together

having meals together

going to Mass together

Praying the rosary

Forgiveness

playing games together...

Etc...you get the picture.

Artillery bags, interesting, huh?

It really got me thinking.

I'm still thinking about it.

It's such a visual way of explaining it.

Anyway, it was a wonderful night and I wanted to share.