Catholics Come Home
Parish News Network

Marriage Ministry Blog

Gridiron Saints...

I participated in a Morning of Spiritual Renewal for Men on Saturday morning at the Norbertine Center for Spirituality.  I want to share a few highlights from my first session, "Gridiron Saints", from Fr. Jim Baraniak who happens to be the Catholic priest that travels with the Green Bay Packers.

His talk discussed the 7 Core Values that Catholic Athletes for Christ consider to be very valuable for athletes and those involved in sports. I would say that these values can be very valuable in ALL relationships and especially in our marriage relationship.

The seven values are: charity, honesty, humility, meekness, moderation, purity and good-sportsmanship. 

Charity is about placing the other (our spouse) before ourselves. Honesty talks about telling the truth but always in a spirit of love and respect. Humility reminds us that God is the author of everything good (grace is another word for this) and that we are NOT God. Meekness allows us to submit to the will of others out of respect and deference for their dignity as a person (this talks about being forgiving and gracious). Moderation is being in control of our passions (focusing our passion with our spouse rather than elsewhere) and being able to tell ourselves "No". Purity talks about being clean in mind and body - we should not deny our sexuality but embrace it, accept it and integrate it into our very person and share ourselves with our spouse. Good-sportmanship talks about treating others with dignity and respect - this certainly should be the "way" we relate to our spouse.

Which of these values might be something to discuss with your spouse this week?

 


 

Back