Below we share a reflection penned by a married couple of our Parish:

ROSES AND ASHES

Have you started thinking about Lent yet? This year St Valentine’s Day, falls on Ash Wednesday. So how to combine red roses with fasting and ashes?

When we marry we profess in our vows to follow our paths of life together, no matter what that may mean. We commit to being more than just alongside each other. We promise to love and to cherish one another: to do all that we can to enable our spouse to be happy in this world and in the next, and to grow to be all we can be ourselves. That is our calling.

What of our path through Lent? It’s similar as we look to understand ourselves and learn how we can realise the unending love of God inviting us to celebrate Jesus’ Resurrection at Easter. We seek change in ourselves in order to pay special attention to both God and our spouse. Our gift to our spouse is to help them become who God made them to be; who they have the capacity to be. The outcome of this depends on how we respond to the graces given to us. So, how can we grow to be the best help mate for our spouse, and to be more fully appreciative of them, and be closer to God?

We believe it’s about communication with our spouse and with God; how can we do that when we are so busy? There’s always the children, the parents, work and even our church commitments.

Perhaps we can agree some resolutions for Lent to help us?

• Pope Francis has simple guidance for couples. He says, each day include, “Thank you, Please, I’m sorry”. Or how about:

• leave the phones away from the dining table and from the bedroom.

• get a practice of saying a daily prayer together - the Lord’s Prayer, the Angelus, the Magnificat - are just a few options.

Each day take some time to check in with each other …. Maybe ask “Tell me something about your day today and how do you feel about that”.

This February is a LEAP YEAR, one more day in the month to love each other. We’re thinking of doing something DIFFERENT for the 29th to express our love. Would you like to give some thought to any of the above notions for your relationship?

Brian & Maureen Devine