When speaking to engaged couples in 2014, Pope Francis urged them to found their relationship on the rock of a love that endures the test of time and to pray to God to strengthen that bond. 

“In the Our Father prayer we say, ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’ Married couples may also learn to pray, ‘Give us this day our daily love,’ teach us to love each other, to care for each other. The more you entrust yourselves to the Lord, the more your love will be ‘forever’, able to renew itself and to overcome every difficulty.”

It is important to recognize that love comes from God and if we desire to love another person, we must draw that love from his Most Sacred Heart.

God is the greatest lover of all time, continually showing us, to the point of death on a cross, how much he loves us. Who better to turn to if we want to learn the art of love?

Additionally, prayer is one of the most intimate aspects of a couple’s life together and extremely vital to their success. It makes each other vulnerable and allows a couple to join hearts at a spiritual level. Married couples are meant to be “one flesh,” but not just at the level of the body. More importantly, married couples should be “one flesh” at the level of the heart.

One practical suggestion is to make the Daily Offering together as a couple. This will greatly enrich your lives as you offer your entire day, together, as a unified sacrifice to God. 

As we go about our daily lives, let us examine our own relationships and ask God to come in and teach us the pathway of the heart, loving others as he has loved us.