You’re a prince so love your wife as a princess, for that is who she is.

Stairway to Heaven is a weekly feature exploring how to live our Catholic faith in our culture.

I was hoping to avoid writing about that wedding in London last Friday but something my daughter said made me stop in my tracks in such a way that I (sort of) must pen a few words related (very loosely) to the blessed event.

My wife and daughter watched the whole wedding and my little girl started talking to my wife about marrying a prince. It is, after all, every girl’s dream to fall in love with a prince and become a princess. After some conversation back and forth, my wife said something to the effect of having met her prince (that would be me) . . .

The conjugal love that St. Joseph had for the Blessed Virgin

Very often men are accused of having just one thing on their minds.

And in today’s sensuality-saturated world, can we be blamed?

A critique of Newsweek’s poor understanding of the Bible, love and sexuality.
>This past Monday, February 6, 2011, Newsweek published an article entitled, What the Bible Really Says About Sex. Now, I realize that Newsweek is not the bastion of Biblical authority or even exegesis. That being said, I felt I should address a few concerns because it directly relates to a proper Christian anthropology or, as it pertains to us, a Theology of the Body. I am also painfully aware that this article desecrates the beauty and nobility of the Song of Songs and other biblical texts.[...]

Deacon Marques continues his discussion of the parallel between the priesthood and marriage, and threats to this ancient understanding.
Last week’s post (Rethinking a Married Priesthood) began to explore how the Sacraments of Marriage and Holy Orders are related. We began by building a Scriptural foundation and this week we will look at the eminent Doctor of Grace, St. Augustine and conclude with a few reflections. Hold on, here we go…

Goods of Marriage

According to St. Augustine of Hippo (Augustine), the goods of marriage consist in the bonum fidei, bonum sacramenti, and the bonum prolis.[1] Unlike many of his modern day critics, Augustine believed that the Sacrament of Marriage was very good.[2] On closer inspection, these three marital goods may be found as intrinsic properties to the Sacrament of Holy Orders. [...]

In a real way, priests ARE married.
I know, the title is pretty inflammatory. No, I am not advocating a Western married presbyterate. But we need to rethink how we see our priests and the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Frankly, did you ever wonder about the relationship between the Sacraments of Marriage and Holy Orders. Both are intrinsically linked to each other.[...]

Love your wives more each day than you did the last, because the best thing you can do as a dad is to love your wife- she is your secret weapon.

On January 20th, 2010 I reached for the phone to call my dad and mom – my wife was in labor with our first child. We were in Alaska, and my parents were in Michigan. They were in a hospital, my dad had suffered a second stroke in October and had been in the hospital pretty much ever since. Things were touch and go since then, so I wanted to call them as soon as we knew my wife was in labor, we were all in need of this[...]

Do you understand the role of your spouse in your spiritual life?

How much credit do we give our wives for our spiritual progress?

For many men, it is a great act of humility to admit that their success is not entirely their own.

We like to take credit for our accomplishments.

Yet, it is almost certain that husbands who have advanced in the spiritual life have done so with the explicit assistance of their wives, or, at the very least, with little or no resistence from their partners.[...]

The recent controversy over the Pope’s interview comments provides an opportunity once again to learn the Church’s true teachings on condoms, birth control and sexuality.
I loved the uproar over the excerpts from the Pope’s latest book. The secular press breathlessly and misleadingly panting that the Vatican has loosened its restrictions on condom use and birth control.

It’s as if the secular world needs the Church to cave on birth control to validate the virtual worldwide acceptance by man of something that is so blatantly against the very nature of man, i.e. the innate desire and need to reproduce ourselves. [...]

IS “fairest love” at the heart of your marriage?
We are closing in on the end of our exposition of Pope John Paul II’s 1994 Letter to Families: Gratissimam Sane.

(Read the previous ten posts on this letter)

Last week, we explored the Pope’s call for us to be fearless apostles with our witness of love to the world.

Today, he details for us “fairest love” and explains that it is the basis for true marriage as the Lord intended.[...]

Your marriage is a gift from God and your wife is a blessing in your life. Do you act like it?

On Saturday night, my parish had its annual spaghetti dinner fundraiser for an Appalachian mission church. I volunteered to help out in the kitchen. The guy heading up the kitchen is a long-time member of the parish. Every member of his family is heavily involved in the church, both spiritually and socially. It’s just one of those families who seem to have it together.

And I think I discovered why on Saturday night.[...]