Monday, February 27, 2017

Amoris Laetitia - Par. 211



211.  Both short-term and long-term marriage preparation should ensure that the couple do not view the wedding ceremony as the end of the road, but instead embark upon marriage as a life-long calling based on a firm and realistic decision to face all trials and difficult moments together.  The pastoral care of engaged and married couples should be centered on the marriage bond, assisting couples not only to deepen their love but also to overcome problems and difficulties.  This involves not only helping them to accept the Church's teaching and to have recourse to her valuable resources, but also offering practical programmes, sound advice, proven strategies and psychological guidance.  All this calls for a pedagogy of love, attuned to the feelings and needs of young people and capable of helping them to grow interiorly.  Marriage preparation should also provide couples with the names of places, people and services to which they can turn for help when problems arise.  It is also important to remind them of the availability of the sacrament of Reconciliation, which allows them to bring their sins and past mistakes, and their relationship itself, before God, and to receive in turn his merciful forgiveness and healing strength.

© LIBRERIA EDITRICE VATICANA.