Immaculate Conception: Pray for Families.
To have a family is a grace without measure. The strength of the family is fundamental to sustain a better society, more human, more together, more Christian.
If someone marries only to be happy, already he began in error. We should seek a marriage thinking in making the OTHER HAPPY. My happiness, my personal realization with my spouse, happens as a consequence of making my wife happy, and for her the happiness only is true and complete by fighting to make me happy.
Love continues being a mystery… not in seeking simply to say: LOVE IS THIS, LOVE IS THAT; no magic formula exists, a rule to define love. All would be quite easy if this was the case… But I have some saying in order in your house you may wake up differently, in a new likeness, a new appearance, everyday.
1º — Fight selfishness. Do not allow it to enter in your matrimonial and familiar relationship. God needs you to be a strong fighter, warrior of love and not a petty person that only looks at your own belly button, combating attitudes of selfishness, investing in the happiiness of your son, your husband or wife.
2º — Exercise patience, Each one is unique, each one has their identity and even after 50 years of marriage Joseph will be Joseph and Mary will be Mary. Its logical that we will be better than when we were single, but each one will maintain his identity. But when people marry there are these crashes, because we need to adapt to the other. The marriage is what is going to make one or another mask fall, one or another illusion that we may have of the person that we love. Therefore, much patience is necessary. I try to arrive in the heart of the other and share difficulties and converse on what is better for the marriage and for the family.
3º — Do not keep resentment: pardon, pardon, pardon and pardon again and again, and another time. Finally how many times will be necessary… A priest friend, said in mass that God loves and therefore forgives, we love one another because we are forgiven, or maybe our attitudes our gestures of love, one with the other, are our response to the merciful love of God that welcomes us as we are. The word says “Do not let the sun set on your resentment!” Resolve with your husband or with your wife, with your child, the bad caused by a word, by a gesture, by an attitude that has stained your heart. Or if you know that the stain hurt, go ask for forgiveness, ask for pardon… You have the remedy that does much, right? Asking or giving forgiveness many times hurts as well, because we have a hurt ego, because we have our sensibility shaken with the situation, but the people cannot be slave to fear and of pain, keeping this situation in our hearts. The person love casts away all fear, says the word of God. Then love. Demonstrate love, because you are loved by God, even though it hurts, love, pardon, do this exercise. God wants and needs families to construct a holy society, a life filled with love brings us to holiness under the blessing and intercession of the Immaculate Conception.
Adilson Sabará
translated from Portuguese