Marriage, Natural Family Planning

Spring, summer, winter, fall. Marriages are perpetually in a state of transition, continually moving from one season to another--perhaps not annually, as in nature, but just as certainly and consistently. Sometimes we find ourselves in winter--discouraged, detached, and dissatisfied; other times, we experience springtime with its openness, hope, and anticipation. On other occasions, we bask in the warmth of summer--comfortable, relaxed, enjoying life. And then comes fall with its uncertainty, negligence, and apprehension. The cycle repeats itself many times throughout the life of a marriage, just as the seasons repeat themselves in nature.

The seasons of marriage come and go. Each one holds the potential for emotional health and happiness, and each one has its challenges. The purpose of this book is to describe these recurring seasons of marriage, help you and your spouse identify which season your marriage is in, and show you how to enhance your marriage in all four seasons.

Here is the perfect resource for encouraging married couples to engage in the spiritual discipline of daily prayer as a means of affirming the blessings and intimacy of their relationship.

The seven sections of the wedding vows serve as the framework upon which hang the enduring values that need to be renewed through the decades with scripture, reflections, and questions.

This inspiring book provides an aid to couples for continuing to find praying together a natural act for a lifetime of love. It will make a thoughtful gift, whether for newlyweds, couples celebrating their anniversaries, or Marriage Encounter participants.

"Because of human imperfections, difficulties crop up in marriage, even between people who love each other deeply. You'll soon find that for this reason, although love is a gift, it must also be learned."

So begins this remarkable book of letters to Julie, a young bride -- letters that reveal the beauty and importance of high ideals in marriage while teaching you practical tips to help you live up to those ideals daily.

You'll learn how to grow in wisdom and in love as you encounter the unglamorous, everyday problems that threaten all marriages. As the author says: "If someone were to give me many short bits of wool, most likely I would throw them away. A carpet weaver thinks differently. He knows the marvels we can achieve by using small things artfully and lovingly. Like the carpet weaver, the good wife must be an artist of love. She must remember her mission and never waste the little deeds that fill her day -- the precious bits of wool she's been given to weave the majestic tapestry of married love."

With the luminous insight that we have come to expect from his writings, Robert Cardinal Sarah helps spouses rediscover the deep source of their love--God Himself--and the means for letting love between them grow.

This book presents the essentials of a retreat that the cardinal preached to married couples in Lourdes, France. It is meant for all couples, including those who are struggling. There is a path to renewal for everyone, and couples in every situation can find again the preciousness of the love that binds them, no matter how hidden it may be.

We are all, without exception, called to joy, and Christ alone can give it to us. He works through his Church, through the sacraments, and through his saints--especially Mary, the Mother of God, who heals couples.

To navigate the inevitable ups and downs of our spiritual lives, countless souls have found comfort and guidance in St. Ignatius of Loyola's Rules for Discernment. For the past forty years, popular retreat master and author Fr. Timothy Gallagher has been at the forefront of making St. Ignatius's Rules understandable and applicable to hundreds of thousands of Catholics seeking greater sensitivity to the "movements of their souls.

Now Fr. Gallagher returns with a more focused mission: to help you apply these rules to your role as a husband or a wife.

In Discernment of Spirits in Marriage, Fr. Gallagher aims to free you from discouragement and assist you in finding peace in your spiritual life and in your marriage. He will help you determine what is of God and what is not and will show you how the enemy works to discourage you in your daily spousal interactions in order to undermine both your spiritual growth and your marital bond.

Best of all, you'll learn what to do about it!

With St. Ignatius and Fr. Gallagher as your guides, you'll learn:

How to identify and remove spiritually harmful habits

The eleven forms of spiritual desolation -- and the four things you must do to combat it

Why God permits spiritual dryness

The easiest way to resist temptation

Your marriage's most vulnerable place -- and how to strengthen it

The four tactics of the enemy -- and the grace-filled responses you can offer to each.

The five ways in which God strengthens husbands and wives who seek to grow spiritually

Over 20 million copies sold!

A perennial New York Times bestseller for over a decade!

Falling in love is easy. Staying in love--that's the challenge. How can you keep your relationship fresh and growing amid the demands, conflicts, and just plain boredom of everyday life?

In the #1 New York Times international bestseller The 5 Love Languages(R), you'll discover the secret that has transformed millions of relationships worldwide. Whether your relationship is flourishing or failing, Dr. Gary Chapman's proven approach to showing and receiving love will help you experience deeper and richer levels of intimacy with your partner--starting today.

The 5 Love Languages(R) is as practical as it is insightful. Updated to reflect the complexities of relationships today, this new edition reveals intrinsic truths and applies relevant, actionable wisdom in ways that work.

Includes the Love Language assessment so you can discover your love language and that of your loved one.

The transition from "married" to "married with children" can be tough. Before they know it, a once youthful and energetic married couple finds themselves in a minivan loaded with noisy kids and littered with Cheerios, crusty Sippy cups, banana peels, and missing library books. As much as you love your children and work hard to nurture and train them for the future, the challenges that come with parenthood can make the "for better or for worse" promise a hard one to honor.

For Better or For Kids will enable couples to:

Build a God-centered marriage instead of a Child-centered or Me-centered marriage

Avoid the dangers of spouse-neglect and self-neglect

Effectively communicate in the chaos

Explore ways to parent together as one team

Find balance in the busyness

For Better or For Kids is about remembering that even when you feel worn out, over-extended, and neglected, you promised to be a team. Marriage with kids may not always be what we expected, but it is good. We need to make a vow to love our spouse with kids in the house.

A Next Big Idea Club Must-Read

What's the recipe for happiness? If you listen to liberal elites or red pill influencers, you'd say it's making money, living for yourself, and staying single without kids--and you'd be wrong. Nothing predicts happiness better than a good marriage.

According to new research by the University of Virginia sociologist Brad Wilcox, our kids and communities--not to mention our civilization as a whole--are much more likely to flourish when the state of our unions is strong. Despite this, record numbers of Americans are not succeeding at getting or staying married.

In this hard-hitting book, Wilcox reveals the anti-family messages and policies coming out of Holly-wood, Washington, the media, academia, and corporate America that have weakened marriage. Along the way, he knocks down a number of myths they've propa-gated. He reveals:

- Both men and women who get and stay married accumulate much greater wealth than people who don't marry.

- Married men and women with families report more meaningful lives, compared with their single and childless peers.

- Couples who take a "we-before-me" approach to married life--by, for instance, sharing joint checking accounts--are happier and less divorce-prone than couples who do not.

- Couples who forge "family-first" marriages--characterized by frequent date nights, family fun time, and chores done with the kids--enjoy the happiest marriages.

Wilcox spotlights four groups--Asian American, Conservative, Faithful, and Strivers--who have built strong, stable marriages by defying the me-first mes-sages of our elites in favor of a family-first way of life.

This is a book for anyone who wants to under-stand why, even as fewer men and women tie the knot, America's most fundamental institution matters for our civilization more than ever. And for men and women looking to establish strong, stable, and happy unions for themselves and their children, Get Married reveals the road forward.

Alarming numbers of men, women, and teens struggle with frequent or habitual pornography use today. Among them are many faithful Catholics desperate for hope and healing. In Integrity Restored: Helping Catholic Families Win the Battle Against Pornography, clinical therapist Dr. Peter Kleponis equips readers to embark on a path of recovery.

Drawing heavily from Catholic teaching on human sexuality, Kleponis provides resources and insight for parents, educators, pastors, and all struggling to overcome an addiction to pornography.

In this newly updated edition, Kleponis looks at new technologies, apps, and services that pose the biggest threat to Catholics today.

Nationally syndicated radio hosts and international family life speakers Greg and Lisa Popcak combine decades of counseling, the latest findings in marriage research, twenty-three years of marriage, and the wisdom of Catholic teaching to offer newlyweds a master plan for creating a strong bond in the first five years of marriage.

If you ask legendary football coach Lou Holtz about his greatest accomplishment, he doesn't talk about winning a national championship at the University of Notre Dame. Instead, he's most proud of his fifty-nine-year marriage to Beth and raising their four successful children together.

In A Lifetime of Love, Holtz offers couples young and old practical advice on marriage and parenting gleaned from his fifty-nine year marriage. He shares stories from he and Beth's life away from the football field that reveal the couple's deep faith in God and commitment to each other and their children.

The Holtzes faced many challenges throughout their marriage: Lou's coaching jobs meant he was often away from home and caused their family to move multiple times. Beth suffered a long battle with illness. Through it all their marriage--and family--remained strong because of the practical lessons they learned as they rode the ups and downs of life.

In this inspiring story, you'll find Lou and Beth's powerful examples for successful marriage and parenting, including:

Find ways to connect daily.

Make sure your children feel loved and appreciated.

Be intentional about time together.

Learn from each other and accommodate one another's needs.

Prioritize faith and prayer.

The Holtzes intended to write this book together, but after Beth's death Lou decided to celebrate his wife's memory by completing the story of their life together. Their children--Luanne, Skip, Kevin, Elizabeth, and their spouses--also share memories of growing up in the Holtz family, adding their voices to the story of their parents' love.

A message of hope for spouses everywhere.

Greg and Julie Alexander thought divorce was the only way out of their lifeless, loveless marriage. Quite unexpectedly, a faithful priest guided them back to the truths of the church, and as they began to incorporate these truths into their lives, they were able to restore the love they once had for each other. Marriage 911 chronicles their journey back from the brink of divorce to marital happiness built on a strong Catholic faith.

Told from both spouses' perspectives, their very personal story shares: Three key questions every married couple should answer Practical, real-life tips for getting a marriage back on track Hope for all married couples on the brink

From New York Times bestselling authors Timothy Keller and Kathy Keller comes a gorgeously packaged daily devotional that takes us on year-long journey into discovering the meaning of marriage

Marriage is the most profound human relationship there is. Coming to know and love your spouse is one of the most rewarding and wondrous things we can experience in life. But it is also one of the most difficult and painful. In this 365-day devotional, Timothy Keller and his wife of forty-three years, Kathy Keller, share powerful instructions on how to have a successful marriage. The Kellers draw from and expand upon lessons they first introduced in their book The Meaning of Marriage, offering stories, daily scriptures, and prayer prompts that will inspire anyone who wants to know God and love more deeply in this life.

Few concepts in Christianity are more misunderstood than obedience. Words like submissive, subject, and obedient can appear utterly incompatible with the fundamental equality that Jesus offers to us in baptism. Yet headship and obedience within marriage has been preached authoritatively throughout the Church's history.

When properly understood and lived out, obedience is, in fact, liberating. The Obedience Paradox illuminates the subject by examining the relationship between husband and wife in marriage as an image of Christ's relationship to the Church. Presenting the sexual complementarity of husband and wife as an expression of gift, this book probes the meaning and power of receptivity in a relationship.

While a marriage certainly involves mutual giving and receiving, a husband most authentically lives headship when he acts as a generous giver towards his wife. Correspondingly, a wife practices authentic obedience when she graciously receives of her husband's self-gift. Understanding obedience as the free reception of a gift unveils its unique potential to make us more free and to bring about deeper spiritual union between persons, both human and divine.

"Modern Catholics often have difficulty identifying with traditional concepts of masculinity, femininity, and marriage. Rather than gloss over these seemingly troublesome categories, Mary Stanford offers a new path forward. In her novel exploration of the true meaning of obedience, Mary reveals the freedom God offers to men and women in their vocations as loving wives and husbands." - Fr. Patrick Mary Briscoe, OP, editor of Aleteia

"Mary's book is fresh and delightful, provocative and persuasive. She blends biblical and theological knowledge with wisdom derived from attentiveness to the practicalities of married life and with impressive insight into the male and female psyches. She writes so beautifully that one wants to pause regularly just to appreciate her phrasing as well as her illuminating concepts. This book makes a true contribution to the ever-vexing question of right relationships between spouses. It explains well the importance of freedom and trust involved in women lovingly submitting to their husbands in marriages dedicated to following Christ in all things." - Janet E. Smith, Ph.D., Father McGivney Chair of Life Ethics (retired), Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit, MI, author of Humanae Vitae: A Generation Later and A Right to Privacy

"For our culture, perhaps the greatest stumbling block in the Catholic faith is its emphasis on obedience. Not only the faithful's obedience to God and his Church but also (and primarily) the Son's obedience to the Father. Drawing from the Church's Tradition and Pope Saint John Paul II's writings in particular, Mary Stanford brings out both the beauty and the challenge of obedience in God's highest natural creation, the family. Her work will benefit engaged and married couples in particular and all who desire to deepen their appreciation of this great paradox, the obedience that frees and ennobles." -- The Very Rev. Paul D. Scalia, Episcopal Vicar for Clergy, Diocese of Arlington, author of That Nothing May Be Lost

"Any couple--new to marriage or old--would do well to consider the exposition of Scripture and Tradition set forth by Mary Stanford, as well as her enlivening exposition of theological ideas in a contemporary setting. The volatile aspects of marriage are given ballast from Stanford's pondering that most weighty matter: How to bring concord between two hearts bound in the Sacrament to mutual service and devotion and yet part of a human world of passion and weariness. In effect, Mary Stanford dares to ask the question of how marriage can work. Bolder still, she attempts an answer." - William Fahey, Ph.D., President, Thomas More College of Liberal Arts

"This book opens a new way to understand obedience in marriage and in the Faith. As such, Mary Stanford rescues the subject from much of its contemporary bad psychology. Very important and highly recommended." - Paul C. Vitz, Senior Scholar/Professor, Divine Mercy University, Professor of Psychology Emeritus, New York University

"There was a time when the words, 'love, honor, and obey' were standard fare for marriage vows. No longer. Over the years, the word 'obey' mistakenly became synonymous with the word 'slavery, ' thus offending our modern sensibilities. Consequently, it has been replaced with more generic words, such as 'cherish' or 'respect.' In The Obedience Paradox: Finding True Freedom in Marriage, Mary Stanford breathes new life into the word 'obedience, ' arguing that obedience, correctly understood, is the ticket to authentic freedom." -- Terry Polakovic, author of Life and Love: Opening Your Heart to God's Design and Women of Hope: Doctors of the Church

"That true freedom is the fruit of obedience is paradoxical indeed. But if obedience featured squarely in the saving action of Jesus (and now the Church), then it must also occupy the heart of the believer. Mary Stanford shows -- for those with ears to hear -- how obedience leads to a life of freedom, joy, and holiness for all -- wives, husbands, clergy, religious." -- Christopher Carstens, Office for Sacred Worship, Diocese of La Crosse

"A work that combines courage and wisdom, Mary Stanford's The Obedience Paradox successfully negotiates one of modern Catholicism's 'Third Rails.' This work is deep yet approachable, an incarnational outworking of learned theology and lived praxis valuable for both clergy and laity, but particularly for those preparing for marriage. In it, obedience and belief are recast in robust, optimistic ways that mirror our bodily and spiritual realities. This is a sensitive counter-cultural affirmation of human dignity in light of modern efforts at dehumanization and depersonalization." - Donald Prudlo, Warren Professor of Catholic Studies, Department of Philosophy and Religion, University of Tulsa

"Few today have the courage publicly to defend the hierarchical primacy of the husband and father. Stanford does, and she offers compelling and attractive arguments in defense of the beauty and wisdom of this teaching." -- Christopher J. Malloy, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Theology, University of Dallas, author of False Mercy: Recent Heresies Distorting Catholic Truth

About the Author

Mary Stanford is a speaker, teacher, and writer on Catholic marriage and family life. She is an adjunct professor at Christendom College and has a master's degree in theological studies from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family. She and her husband, Trey, have seven children.