Notes from this Episode:

Background

• This episode is published during the season of Lent. During Lent we are accustomed to give up something, to sacrifice in order to get closer to God.

The Vocation of Marriage

• It is in and through our vocation, our divine calling, to know, love, and serve God.  For those of us who are married, we are called to live this with our spouses.
• Marriage and family life is our path to holiness.

Our Role as Mothers

• When we understand the immense confidence and reliance God places on us as mothers of our families, we realize that we have the biggest opportunity of fulfillment by creating a family that can contribute to changing the world.
  • It is so critical that we understand the immense power that we have in bringing about the Kingdom of God.

Sanctifying Our Marriage

• The first relationship we are called to sanctify is our marriage. 
• More than a call, marriage and family life are integral to the plan of salvation. It begins first with our marriage.
• Marriage is the vehicle, the path that we are given to become more like Christ in the middle of the world. To change the world.

Sacrifice Within Your Marriage

• When we get married, we never imagine that our marriage could be the source of all our sacrificial love.  But actually, our marriage is the place where God perfects us – where He makes us holy by us embracing the cross of marriage.
• Few of us are called to sacrifice in worldly, great ways, like being missionaries or helping the poor in other countries.  We are called to great sacrifice in our relationship with our spouse and our children.
• We seem okay to sacrifice for our children, but we tend to resist sacrifice in our married love.
  • Our marriage need to keep going through a new life, which always requires some sort of surrender, some kind of sacrifice.
• In the sacrificial love we have for our spouse, we live out God’s command to “love as I have loved you”.

Marital Unity

• Marital unity is the foundation on which we will build fidelity, intimacy, communication, and avoiding the temptation to put other things and people ahead of our marriage.
• The two shall become one is a process, and if the initial love between spouses was left to thrive on its first momentum, it would grow cold and die.  It is a fire that must be constantly fed with effort, sacrifice, and prayer.
• We have to be humble enough to see how we may have contributed to the distance within our marriage. We each have to seek the grace of God individually and nourish our relationship with God within ourselves and then together as a couple.

Final Thoughts

• What kind of marriage do you want?  You cannot control your spouse’s actions, but you can control your own.
• When we work on ourselves, we work to unite with our spouse physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
• Be careful about your thoughts. Choose thoughts about your spouse and your marriage that will give you options on how to grow and nurture your marriage.
• We must persevere in our love.  We continually live a sacrificial love and fall more and more in love with our husband. We can create the marriage and family life that God intended for us and that can change the world.