Jesus does not say that the rain, the winds, or the storms will not come. He takes it for granted that they will come. In every marriage there are moments of exhaustion, disagreements, financial worries, difficulties with children, or illness. The difference is not in avoiding the storms, but in the foundation on which the marriage is built. Building on rock means relying on Jesus, on the grace of our sacrament, and on the firm decision to love and to give oneself to one’s spouse. Lord, may You never have to tell us that You do not know us, or that we have drifted away from You.

Brought down to Married Life:

Esther: I don’t know if we can keep going like this. It feels like everything is hitting us at once.
James: I’m exhausted too. Between work, bills, and your father’s worries, I feel like we barely have any patience left.
Esther: Do you remember when we got married? We thought the hard part would be finding time for us… I never imagined all this.
James: Maybe the problem is that we expect the difficulties to disappear one day. And every time a new one comes, it feels like everything is falling apart again.
Esther: Maybe it’s not about the problems going away, but about remembering why we are here. I don’t want to stop choosing love when things get hard.
James: Neither do I want to stop building, even if I sometimes have to learn how to do it all over again.

That night, in their prayer as a couple, their worries did not disappear, but they rediscovered the certainty that as long as they remained united to the Lord and renewed each day their decision to love one another, there would be a grace capable of sustaining them even in the most difficult moments.

Mother,

You who listened to the words of your Son and put them into practice, help us to build a holy marriage for the glory of God. Blessed be your purity!