Lenten campaign 2026
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When I was engaged to get married, the priest gave me some unusual advice.
“Your homework? Read the Catechism section on matrimony,” he told my fiance and me.
We were surprised, but went ahead and did what he said.
Honestly, it changed my life.
Why read it?
The Catholic Church’s teaching on marriage and sexuality is incredibly beautiful, offering a unified and powerful vision of love.
So much goodness is laid out in the Catechism — but too many of us aren't taking advantage of this incredible resource? When do we actually check out what's in it, not just as a reference book, but as a source of learning ... and even prayer.
In honor of the holiday of love, I’m challenging you to read the Catechism section on marriage this Valentine’s Day. It can renew and inspire your marriage and home life to new heights.
What’s in it?
I can’t do justice to the whole thing, but here are a few things I learned from reading it that shaped the way I approach marriage and family life:
1Your marriage is the building block of society
The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life.
2Your marriage is an image of God’s love
Since God created man and woman, their mutual love becomes an image of the absolute and unfailing love with which God loves humanity … The entire Christian life bears the mark of the spousal love of Christ and the Church.
3Your sacramental marriage gives you strength
In a Christian marriage the spouses are strengthened and, as it were, consecrated for the duties and the dignity of their state by a special sacrament… This grace proper to the sacrament of Matrimony is intended to perfect the couple's love and to strengthen their indissoluble unity.
4Your home is a “domestic church”
From the beginning, the core of the Church was often constituted by those who had become believers "together with all [their] household." When one person was brought to belief in the Good News, they desired that "their whole household" should also be saved. These families who became believers were islands of Christian life in an unbelieving world.
In our own time, in a world often alien and even hostile to faith, believing families are of primary importance as centers of living, radiant faith. For this reason the Second Vatican Council, using an ancient expression, calls the family the Ecclesia domestica [the domestic church].
5Your family is a “school of virtue”
It is here that the father of the family, the mother, children, and all members of the family exercise the priesthood of the baptized in a privileged way "by the reception of the sacraments, prayer and thanksgiving, the witness of a holy life, and self-denial and active charity."
Thus the home is the first school of Christian life and "a school for human enrichment." Here one learns endurance and the joy of work, fraternal love, generous -- even repeated -- forgiveness, and above all divine worship in prayer and the offering of one's life.
Read it together
One way to approach this section of the Catechism would be to get together a group of friends to discuss it after reading.
You might ask, “What parts struck you? What did you learn?” Fruitful conversations could come from this gathering.
Or if you’re married or in a relationship, read it together with your spouse. Hopefully the insights about marriage will inspire you to grow in holiness and love together.
