Marriage Encounter

Last weekend my husband and I went away for a long weekend which included a Marriage Encounter. All I can say is that it was a very powerful, transformative experience that really merits the term "encounter." It is a reawakening of the Sacrament of matrimony through the work of communication. The reawakening is marvelous; the work is sometimes very difficult and even painful. But not doing the work is even more difficult and more painful, so in the end it is a very joyous experience.

We also had a very pleasant few days away together afterwards as Erol showed me around Detroit, where he had attended some classes during his undergraduate years in Windsor (which is just across the boarder into Canada). Highlights of the trip included a morning in Frankenmuth, a lovely German-themed tourist town where we saw the world's largest Christmas store, and a visit to the Solanus Casey Center which was very moving for me as I have grown very fond of this Capuchin venerable.

This weekend away and all the graces that have come with it has brought about life-changing effects for me. (I think Erol would agree, but I'll let him speak of his own experience!) I hesitate to say that an experience just a week old is life-changing, and I know that because I am still alive the change is still in process. But this has been a definite profound encounter with Christ in the person of my husband, and in the presence of our Sacrament. As a friend put it, the work is to abide in what Christ has given. I am finding the way I live to be changed as a result, not only of the weekend but of the ongoing work that we have committed to do to further our daily communication.