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M A R R I AG E I S A B O U T H A P P I N E S S If a couple is happy, they should stay married. Once the going gets rough, though, and that happiness starts to dissipate, then that marriage is not worth staying in anymore. Why stay married if you're not happy? M A R R I AG E I S E T E R N A L CCC 1640: "Thus the marriage bond has been established by God himself in such a way that a marriage concluded and con- summated between baptized persons can never be dissolved. This bond, which results from the free human act of the spouses and their consummation of the marriage, is a reality, henceforth irrevocable, and gives rise to a covenant guaranteed by God's fidelity. The Church does not have the power to contravene this disposition of divine wisdom." CH I L D R E N A R E O P TI O N A L Having kids is nice, and babies are cute, but what about the couple who wants to travel the world? Or the couple who likes to get away to the mountains every weekend and lives a very active lifestyle? Last but not least, how do kids fit into an ambitious career growth plan? Thankfully, contraception and abortion make it easy for a married couple not to have kids. LOV E I S A FE E L I N G You know those butterflies you first felt when you fell in love with that special some- one? That's what love feels like. As long as that feeling is still there, then you're still meant to be married. However, if that feeling disappears, then you probably "fell out" of love, in which case it's OK to leave your marriage. Follow the feeling. M A R R I AG E I S A B O U T H O L I N E S S CCC 1641: "'By reason of their state in life and of their order, Christian spouses have their own special gifts in the People of God.' This grace proper to the sacrament of Matrimony is intended to perfect the couple's love and to strengthen their indissoluble unity. By this grace they 'help one another to attain holiness in their married life and in welcoming and educating their children.'" M A R R I AG E I S T E M P O R A RY On your wedding day, make sure you have a prenuptial agreement in place, just in case things go south. After all, marriage is just like any other relation- ship — sometimes they just don't work out. In those cases, divorce is always an option. CH I L D R E N A R E A G I F T CCC 1652: "Children are the supreme gift of marriage and contribute greatly to the good of the parents themselves. God himself said: 'It is not good that man should be alone,' and 'from the beginning (he) made them male and female'; wishing to associate them in a special way in his own cre- ative work, God blessed man and woman with the words: 'Be fruitful and multiply.' Hence, true married love and the whole structure of family life that results from it, without diminishment of the other ends of marriage, are directed to disposing the spouses to cooperate valiantly with the love of the Creator and Savior, who through them will increase and enrich his family from day to day." LOV E I S A C A L L I N G CCC 1643: ""Conjugal love involves a totality, in which all the elements of the person enter — appeal of the body and instinct, power of feeling and affectivity, aspiration of the spirit and of will. It aims at a deeply personal unity, a unity that, beyond union in one flesh, leads to forming one heart and soul; it demands indissolubility and faithfulness in definitive mutual giving; and it is open to fertility. In a word it is a question of the normal characteristics of all natural conjugal love, but with a new significance which not only purifies and strengthens them, but raises them to the extent of making them the expression of spe- cifically Christian values." 12 FEB-MAR 2024 | DENVER CATHOLIC THE WORLD THE CHURCH ⊲ ⊲ ⊲ ⊲