Marriage and family life are the future of the Church and of the world. As Saint Pope John Paul II wrote, The future of humanity passes by way of the family. For this reason, after preaching the Gospel and celebrating the sacraments, marriage and family life is one of my highest priorities as a priest.We can look at our culture and lament the disintegration of marriages and families, or we can look to the hope that we see in families that are united in Christ and flourishing in his love. In fact, there is great hope and encouragement I see in so many wonderful couples who have made the Lord the center of their lives.Whenever I prepare a couple for marriage or meet with a couple for spiritual and pastoral counseling, I nearly always ask about their prayer life, both individually and as a couple, because a life of prayer must be the foundation of a marriage, and marriages thrive where prayer is central.Of course, there is the saying: The family that prays together, stays together . Well, one of the most stunning statistics about marriage confirms that this is absolutely true: the divorce rate for couples who pray together every day is less than 1%. And that alone should give couples the motivation to begin daily prayer together. This statistic shouldn’t surprise us though, because if God is real (and he is), and if he loves us and wants to help couples love one another (and he does), then it makes perfect sense that the couple who prays together will receive the graces they need to live a happy and holy marriage.This prayer book for married couples came about as a result of conversations Cameron Thompson and I have had about the importance of helping couples learn to pray, both individually and as a couple. We wanted to provide something simple and straightforward, but which will help couples begin a life of prayer together. My hope is that this booklet will give couples the encouragement they need to invite the Lord deeper into their marriage through prayer together as a couple.May God bless you.Father Nick VanDenBroeke(From the Forward by Rev. Nick VandDenBroeke)
