OUR LITTLENESS DRAWS GOD TO OUR SIDE

Today’s readings are a comforting reminder that we can rest in our littleness. In a culture that values making a name for yourself and standing out in some way, even if it is not a positive way, Our Lord re minds us repeatedly today that He values the lowly and humble.

I was recently sharing at our first Pre-Cana retreat with our engaged couples that while my husband and I were blessed to begin our marriage with shared Catholic Faith and a genuine love for one another, we really had few relationship skills. We came to marriage with our own unique combination of brokenness in the form of pride, defensiveness, insecurity, and awful communication skills. What could go wrong? Under God’s merciful and patient gaze, we grew over the years by slowly working on our own holiness (we have so far to go!), while gradually learning to lean into the hard work of communication. It makes us truly wonder at the power of the Sac rament of Marriage! As I like to say often, God loves marriage, and He is on our side. Because we have seen how much God has done for us, and how little we can do on our own, we can rejoice in littleness!

I am in my third year working with Holy Cross’s Pre-Cana program, and I consider it a tremendous blessing to participate in our couples’ formation for this sacrament. Uniquely, we prepare our couples almost entirely here at the parish. We ask them to enter into parish life, at tending Mass and social events so that they can experience belonging to a larger family. As our culture has become more isolating and polar ized, it can be a powerful experience to belong here.

The primary content of their formation takes places during our three retreats, one each in January, February, and March. Perhaps the most formational aspect of their preparation are their meetings with a men tor couple. Holy Cross has 11 trained mentor couples who are both wise and generous. They help our couples communicate with each other in the areas of their relationship where it is most needed, and along the way the mentors can share their own story of how God has worked in their lives.

We are also very happy to be seeing more and more Holy Cross couples having their civil marriages blessed. Many couples don’t realize how simple a process this can be, and what a joy it is to begin to see the graces flow in their marriages as a result of receiving this sacrament. If this is you, please reach out to Fr. Rumpza or myself, or place a call to the parish office. These marriage blessings or “convalidations” are a true blessing for you, your family, and our entire parish.

Finally, in support of our newer marriages (between 0-7 years), the archdiocese offers a retreat on Saturday, February 7 from 9:00 AM to 2:30 PM at the Maternity of Mary in St. Paul. For more information, please see https://www.archspm.org/events/nmr/. God loves marriage, and He wants to bless us with strong and happy marriages that go on to bless our families, neighborhoods and the world! I pray we learn to rest and remain peaceful in our littleness and even our brokenness so that God’s glory may be revealed in our lives and our marriages.

~Elizabeth Brown, Marriage Formation Coordinator