INTRODUCTION
Understanding of the Sacrament of Marriage has to be a firm foundation: God created a marriage between Himself and humanity; in Christ he did it as a covenant and consummates it on the cross. The educational or marriage formation process has to begin at an early age in the home.
“The Eucharist is the very source of Christian marriage. The Eucharistic Sacrifice, in fact, represents Christ's covenant of love with the Church, sealed with His blood on the Cross. In this sacrifice of the New and Eternal Covenant, Christian spouses encounter the source from which their own marriage covenant flows, is interiorly structured and continuously renewed. As a representation of Christ's sacrifice of love for the Church, the Eucharist is a fountain of charity. In the Eucharistic gift of charity, the Christian family finds the foundation and soul of its "communion" and its "mission": by partaking in the Eucharistic bread, the different members of the Christian family become one body, which reveals and shares in the wider unity of the Church. Their sharing in the Body of Christ that is "given up" and in His Blood that is "shed" becomes a never-ending source of missionary and apostolic dynamism for the Christian family.” (Familiaris Consortio 57, St. Pope John Paul II).
MARRIAGE FORMATION: STEPS TO MARRIAGE PROCESS
Step #1 - Contact your parish priest
- your first meeting will be with a parish priest. At this time, you will review:
A marriage formation weekend for engaged couples. The Joy-Filled Marriage process is a comprehensive marriage preparation program rooted in virtues as well as the Theology of the Body. The program incorporates rich Catholic theology with sound psychology.
This weekend also provides time for couples to dialogue and enter into a deeper understanding of the Sacrament of Marriage. The schedule for each weekend is typically as follows: Saturday = 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM, and Sunday = 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM. Questions? please contact Socorro (see email below).
JFM Weekends in 2024
January 20-21
March 23-24
May 25-26
June 22-23 (SPANISH)
September 21-22
To register, fill out the online form here or email Socorro for more information.
“There is a truly marvelous design inherent in the Sacrament of Matrimony! And it unfolds in the simplicity and frailty of the human condition.”
- Pope Francis
Married love merges “the human with the divine” and “leads the spouses to a free and mutual gift of themselves, a gift providing itself by gentle affection and by deed, such love pervades the whole of their lives: indeed by its busy generosity it grows better and grows greater.”
(The Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et spes, no. 49)