Welcome

Mark learned early that honesty could be dangerous. Growing up in a home where his father's anger was unpredictable, he became skilled at telling people what they wanted to hear. White lies. Half-truths. Omissions. Outright lies. It was a survival strategy, and for years it worked. He brought it into our marriage. When Dawna asked whether she looked nice, whether he remembered a phone call, whether he had finished the leftovers, Mark gave her the answer most likely to keep th

"We are called to love. Marriage gives you an other to love deeply, to practice all the Christian virtues on: patience, kindness... if nothing else, your spouse will almost certainly be the only person you actually get to forgive seventy time seven." Mark delivers some version of this line every year when he delivers the talk on the sacrament of marriage to catechumens prepare to enter the Church during the Office of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA) sessions. It gets a l

How do you love your spouse when they aren't present? It's a question that Jesus raises with his disciples before his ascension. There is a moment in this Sunday's Gospel where Jesus, facing his own death, turns his attention not inward but outward, toward the people he loves. "I pray for them," he says. Jesus intercedes. Jesus holds those who love him in mind before the Father. And when he leaves, he tells them he will send the Holy Spirit to be their advocate. John's Gospel