Community – Dialogue Central
Keeping your relationship as intimate as on your Worldwide Marriage Encounter weekend means taking the tools from the weekend and applying them to our everyday lives. On our weekend we learned a new way of living our lives that involves sharing our innermost self with our spouse through the communication technique we learned, called “dialogue”. This 20 minutes we give of ourselves to our spouse each and every day is the most precious gift we can give.
But no one ever said it was going to be easy. There are many stumbling blocks and excuses that we use when we fall short of living up to our commitment. Feelings are the foundation of intimate communication. We all know how to share what we know or think, but those skills, while important, do not help us to adequately share ourselves with our spouse. It takes practice and patience to share our feelings.
Below are some resources to help you keep your dialogue on track and to continue to grow more intimately with your spouse through daily dialogue.
Community – Living the Lifestyle
Praying as a Couple
Seven Steps to Being Comfortable Praying as a Couple:
Day 1. Pray individually – silently – for 1 minute sitting side by side.
Day 2. Pray the Our Father or Hail Mary together holding hands sitting side by side.
Day 3: One person pray the Our Father and the other pray the Hail Mary sitting side by side.
Day 4: Each person prays aloud briefly, side by side, asking God for help for friends and family.
Day 5: Each person prays aloud briefly, side by side, asking God for help in your marriage.
Day 6: Each person prays a prayer of praise to God.
Day 7: Holding each other in your arms, pray quietly aloud thanking God for the gift of your spouse, and asking Him for something special for your spouse.
The intimacy you gain from these steps will bring with it a desire to pray together for the rest of your life.
Being A Sign to our Family and the World
sac-ra-ment /’sakrement/ Noun: An outward and visible sign of God’s grace.
There are many ways we can be a sign of God’s love in the world.
Be aware of how we talk to each other in the presence of others. How people view marriage depends on how we treat one another.
Treat our children with God’s love. Work on parenting together – making decisions together.
Hold hands and be close in public. Let people see that marriage is joy filled.
Help the elderly together – maybe give an elderly person a ride to Church on Sundays.
Teach religious education class as a couple – give the students an example of a strong marriage.
Present a marriage enrichment talk to other married couples in our parish.
Serve on a Church Committee together – showing the strength of a married couple working together.
Stay together as a couple at family gatherings.
Coach our children’s sports teams as a couple.
Donate
Worldwide Marriage Encounter’s ability to continue presenting weekends depends on the generosity of those that have attended weekends. We welcome any additional donations you choose to make.
All donations in excess of the cost of food and lodging on your weekend are tax deductible and will be acknowledged by a letter to support your tax deduction. You may want to check with your employer to see if they offer matching gift programs to help your gift go further.
Your additional donations can be made by credit card (Master Card, Visa or Discover) or by check (payable to Marriage Encounter). Donations can be mailed to:
Worldwide Marriage Encounter
c/o John & Barbara Gonzales
1396 Hidden Springs Drive
Salado, TX 76571
Or you can make a donation online with the Donate button below.
For further information, please contact John & Barbara Gonzales, 254-947-8796 or r10_finance@wwme.org
The Fr. Chuck Gallagher, S.J. Legacy Fund
In addition to direct help for our Weekends, WWME has established a fund to help pay for Team Training. The Fr. Chuck Gallagher, S.J. Legacy Fund is the official endowment fund of Worldwide Marriage Encounter that directly funds Leadership Training and Development of couples and priests for continuing Father Chuck’s dream to bring Marriage Encounter Weekends to couples around the world. Created in 2014, the Legacy Fund helps us keep our movement alive and strong.
Help us with our mission to change the world, one couple and priest at a time!
