An Invitation from the Bishops of England and Wales to Reflect on the Gift of Marriage and Family Life. Questions for reflection

Over the next 3 weeks you are asked to reflect on 6 questions on the “Gift of Marriage and Family Life”.


Thinking about what you have read in the scriptures and using the quotes below from the teaching of Pope Francis, reflect on the questions that follow applying them to your experience of marriage and family life.

Please pick up a paper from the porch and return your reflection written on the reverse of the paper or a separate sheet to church and drop it into a box which has been provided. These will be then sent direct to the Bishop’s Secretary.

3. “Those who celebrate the sacrament say, “I promise to be true to you, in joy and in sadness, in sickness and in health; I will love you and honour you all the days of my life”. At that moment, the couple does not know what will happen, nor what joys and pains await them. They are setting out, like Abraham, on a journey together. And that is what marriage is! Setting out and walking together, hand in hand, putting yourselves in the Lord’s powerful hands. Hand in hand, always and for the rest of your lives. And do not pay attention to this makeshift culture, which can shatter our lives.”

How can we better understand marriage as a vocation?

4. “Today, there are those who say that marriage is out of fashion... They say that it is not worth making a life-long commitment, making a definitive decision, ‘for ever’, because we do not know what tomorrow will bring.”

How does your marriage enrich you?

Prayer