Going to Mass together and setting aside time each day to talk to each other are two simple practices that can help Catholic couples strengthen their marriage and be examples to others, said a papal message. Pope Benedict XVI "invites Christian couples to be 'the gentle and smiling face of the church,' the best and most convincing heralds of love sustained and nourished by faith," said a message to the participants in the international meeting of the Teams of Our Lady. The group, a movement for Catholic couples started in France in 1938, was meeting in Brasilia, Brazil, July 21-26. The papal message to the couples was signed by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican secretary of state. While pressures on married couples have increased since the movement's founding, the message said, members continue to be committed to proclaiming, "not only in words, but also through their lives, the fundamental truths about human love" and how it is a reflection of God's love for humanity. The movement helps couples recognize the grace of the sacrament of marriage and encourages them to attend Mass together, Cardinal Bertone said. It also gives them "simple and practical ideas to daily live an embodied spirituality for Christian spouses."
Born during the turbulent era of the French Revolution, Saint Jeanne Jugan rose above hardship and a lack of formal schooling to become a profound vessel of Christ’s mercy. After losing her father at a young age and working through her youth as a kitchen maid and nurse, her life radically changed one freezing night when she encountered a blind, paralyzed elderly woman with nowhere to go. Jeanne carried the woman back to her own home, placed her in her own bed, and began a lifelong mission of radical hospitality. This act of profound love blossomed into the Little Sisters of the Poor , a thriving community dedicated to sheltering and honoring the destitute elderly. Despite later facing heavy trials—including being unjustly sidelined and stripped of her leadership by a controlling chaplain—Jeanne accepted her obscurity and exile with a joyful spirit, resting her complete trust in God's hidden providence until her death in 1879. In our daily lives, Saint Jeanne Jugan invites us to lo...
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