We do not think it is a stretch to assert that marriage in the Roman Catholic (or any other Christian) tradition in the United States is under attack.\u00a0 Due in large part to the contemporary values of individualism, indeterminacy, and consumerism, American Catholics (along with our Christian brothers and sisters) live in an age of serial monogamy that discourages exclusive love, long-term commitments, and personal sacrifice.\u00a0 This cultural condition especially places tremendous pressure on the newly married, who already struggle naturally in establishing a new shared journey towards God.<\/p>\n
Newly married couples require support from the Church community.\u00a0 While the number and variety of resources for the newly married have grown considerably within the Church over the past twenty years, the Church continues to invest more time in the wedding day than in the lifelong fruit of the sacrament.\u00a0 In an attempt to forge a stronger link between the marriage rite and marital journey, we offer Embracing the Mysteries as One: A Mystagogy for the Newly Married<\/em> \u2013 a time for reflection modeled after the Period of Postbaptismal Catechesis and Mystagogy in the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA).<\/p>\n It is through the Rite of Marriage that a couple establishes an irrevocable bond of lifelong love.\u00a0 It is through the rite that a couple opens themselves to the lifelong grace of Christ.\u00a0 It is through the rite that a couple establishes the Domestic Church.\u00a0 The marriage rite is the source of sustenance for the marriage journey.\u00a0 Therefore, gaining a greater appreciation of the rite may assist married couples (especially the newly married) in gaining a greater appreciation of their shared journey towards God.<\/p>\n The final step in the RCIA process is the Period of Postbaptismal Catechesis and Mystagogy.\u00a0 It is a time when those newly received into the Church contemplatively reflect on their experience of the Initiation Rites.\u00a0 As Sr. Kathleen Hughes aptly writes in Saying Amen: A Mystagogy of Sacrament<\/em>, this is done to \u201csavor its memory\u2026ponder [symbolic] meanings of [actions and words]\u2026and live out its vision.\u00a0Questions that typically arise include:\u00a0 What physically happened to me?\u00a0 How did I feel?\u00a0 What words, actions, or symbols particularly resonated with me?\u00a0 How does this experience carry me forward in life?<\/p>\n These questions bear significant relevancy to the marriage rite and newly journeying couples.\u00a0 Our session would offer couples the opportunity to reflect contemplatively and prayerfully on the sacrament they conferred upon each other on their wedding day.\u00a0 With the aid of at least one mentor couple and an ordained minister, couples would mystagogically explore what it means to establish an irrevocable bond of lifelong love with the grace of Christ.<\/p>\n In the coming months we will be piloting this session in several diverse parishes around Minnesota.\u00a0 Our initial target audience comprises couples of diverse ages and backgrounds who have been married for at least six months.\u00a0 We will be happy to share the results of this pilot endeavor with the blog community at PrayTell!<\/p>\n Jeffrey and Natalie (Perl) Regan are St. John’s School of Theology\u00b7Seminary, Jeff as a liturgy student and Natalie as director of admissions.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the coming months we will be piloting this marriage-mystagogy session in several diverse parishes around Minnesota with couples who have been married for at least six months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[167],"tags":[683,710,711],"class_list":["post-1331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marraige","tag-jeffrey-regan","tag-mystagogy","tag-natalie-perl-regan"],"yoast_head":"\n