SPIRITUALITY OF CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE.

Spirituality  is the living of an adequate response which the human persons are expected to give to the
call of God moved and led by the Spirit of God. Seen in this light spirituality of married life has the
following characteristic:

It is a daily call and response.

a)While all the beings in this world are created by God with a specific
pattern of behavior called natural law, the human beings are called
into existence personally by God. Life is, therefore, a call and response.
This is given at every moment and hence every moment ought to be a
response. In the case  of persons this call is specific to each one and
it manifest itself in different ways.In marriage it is the call of God given
to a man and woman mediated by each other. The life of the married
people will therefore be conditioned by each other. They respond to God
through their mutual love. They make their life meaningful by this mutual
daily response.

b)The human love becomes the sacrament of the love of God.They manifest
their response to God by their love for one another. By the sacrament of
matrimony each becomes a grace to the other. Their human conjugal love
becomes consecrated love. This will not  take place automatically.
Since they carry with them their belonging to sinful Adam and Eve, they
have to be constantly struggling to keep their love for one another free
from selfishness. It is asceticism of self-denial which makes their human
love become the symbol of divine love.

The acceptance of the cross as an expression of their covenantal love.

The married couple will have to accept the differences  of each. This is the integral part of true love.
This will be the cross that they have to experience daily.This does not characterize each one as the cross
of the other.The cross is in the effort to relate to the other. But if they dedicatedly accept this cross and
live it in fidelity, their relationship will result in an experienced of the resurrection,giving them a lasting joy
and happiness.

The spirituality of sexual union.

Sexual union of married couple is an expression of their love for one
another in its highest form.If this is done in a spirit of genuine love and
not in a hedonistic spirit it will become the sacrament of the creative love
of God. It will build up their communion in such a way that it will grow
into genuine personal relationship lasting even unto death ,continually
experienced even when physical sexual pleasure becomes diminished.
The presence of the Spirit of God who is the real source of happy life
is fully operative in the lives of such couples.

Mutual forgiveness.

An integral part of marital sexuality. We all belong to a sinful world, a world
in which vengeance grows seven fold. But Christ has  introduced us into a world
in which forgiveness grows without  limit. Living together with our differences which
at times manifest itself as alienation, we tend to offend or hurt one another.If it is the
love of Christ that has united the couple in the married life, the element of mutual
forgiveness must be an integral part of their life together. God has forgive us all; it now
remains for us to forgive one another in order to complete the redemptive work of Christ.
The redeemed Christian family will be one in which this horizontal forgiveness and recon-
ciliation is constantly cooperative.

Building up a community of love.

The love of a couple should overflow into their children, But care
should be taken to  make sure that it is a shared love.The selfless
love which bound the couple together now makes itself felt in the
family through the selfless love towards their children and the
selfless love of children towards one another.

Love nourished by prayer.

Communion with Christ who initiated the couple into the Trinitarian family
must be nourished by a life of prayer which should characterize their life
together. An atmosphere of love nourished by daily prayer which keeps
alive the divine presence in their midst is a very important means to build
up a Christian family.