SPOUSES SHOULD ALWAYS RECALL "HOW DID JESUS - GOD LOVES US?

*   Freely : "No one takes my life from me., I lay it down on my own."

*  Fully (Unconditionally): "I give myself to you without reservation: body ,soul                                               and divinity"
*  Faithfully : "I will be with you always, until the end of time."

*   Fruitfully:  "I have laid down my life so that my bride may have life and have                           it to the   full."

STRONG MARRIAGE

If a family begins with a marriage, a strong family begins with a strong marriage. A marriage can only be strong if each spouse gives 150%. A good marriage is selfless and without sin , therefore no artificial contraception, nor even the desire to regulate children, unless there is a grave reason. Children    are no   longer something to try to avoid for a certain time, but rather they became the blessings, the gifts from God that they were meant to be. Gifts to be enjoyed and loved. The marriage provides the initial example; it is the first teacher, and it sets the tone for what a child sees as normal life. Parents must have a hap[py (although not perfect) marriage. Let our Lord fill the voids with His love. The closer they are to living with faith and God's Will,the happier they will be. Have you ever seen a selfish person be happy? Or an angry person?

Inner Healing and the call to Holiness

Out of practicality, let us look at the three basic facets that comprise every human being:

THE MIND that refers to our thought patterns,thinking processes, attitudes towards God, self and others and whether or not it is under the Lordship of Jesus. (Rom. 12:2.)

THE BODY that refers to our physical life and health, which becomes a sign of our spiritual well being as well.

THE SOUL that refers to the inner person; the feelings and emotions, the relationship we have, our personality,character traits and behavior patterns.
St. Paul in 1Thess.5:23-24, already aware of a crucial importance of this areas and obviously inspired by the Holy Spirit, reminds us that God wants us to be perfect and holy, safe and blameless in spirit, soul and body. He has called us to this pilgrimage and he will certainly accomplish it. Only then can the first and greatest commandment be lived sincerely - you must love the Lord you God with your whole Heart, with your whole Soul and with your whole mind... Mt. 22:37.

FORGIVENESS HAS POWER TO TRANSFORM OUR LIVES

                                                                 Fr. Johann Christoph Arnold

The forgiveness of sins that Jesus offers is so powerful that it will change a person's life completely. Everything that makes us fearful or isolated, everything impure and deceitful, will yield if we give ourselves to him. What is up will come down, and what is down will come up.This change will start in the innermost heart of our being, and then both our inner and outer life, including all our relationships. will be transformed.

Whether or not a person has been transformed in this way shows up most plainly when he or she faces death. Those who have been at the bedside of a dying person will know how absolute, how final in its significance, is each person's inner relationship with God. They know that in the end, when the last breaths are drawn, this bond is the only thing that counts. It is the life - task of every person to prepare to meet God. Jesus tells us how to do this when he says, "Whatever you do for the least of them you do for me." He also says, "Blessed are the poor in Spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God." I have personally experienced at deathbeds that if a person has lived for others, as Jesus did, then God is very close to him in the last hour. I have also experienced at the hour of death the torment of those who lived selfish and sinful lives.

In the Image of God

God said "Let us make man in our image and likeness to rule the fish in the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all wild animals on earth, and all reptiles that crawl upon the earth." So God created man in his own image; in the image of God he created him, male and female. God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase; fill the earth and subdue it." (Genesis 1:26-28)

In the opening chapter of the story of creation we read that God created humankind-both male and female- in his own image, and that he blesses them and commanded them to be fruitful and to care for the earth. Right from the start,God shows himself as the creator who "saw all that he had made, and it was very good." Here, right at the beginning of the Bible, God reveals his heart to us. Here we discover God's plan for our lives. Many, if not most, twentieth-century Christians dismiss the story of creation as a myth. Others insist that only the strictest, most literal interpretation of Genesis is valid. I simply have reverence for the word of the Bible as it stands. On the one hand, I would not think of arguing away anything in it; on the other,I believe scientists are right in cautioning that the biblical account of creation should not be taken too literally. As Peter says, "With the Lord, a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day" (2Pet.3-8)