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Choosing a spouse might be the most important decision that you will make in your life. (Photo: Adobe Stock) By Mark Sanders, LPC, CAS Lisa Smith, LPCC Grace Cole, LPC, LIMHP, CPC St. Raphael Counseling In our work as couples therapists at St. Raphael Counseling, we have seen the extremes. On the one hand, we have had clients who struggled in their relationship and even recognized red flags before getting married that they didn’t acknowledge at the time. On the other hand, we

(Photo: Adobe Stock) By Dr. Elizabeth Klein Associate Professor of Theology Augustine Institute In the fourth century, a young woman named Macrina (venerated today as St. Macrina the Younger) unexpectedly lost her fiancé prior to her wedding. She took this turn of events as a divine sign never to marry, explaining to her parents that her intended spouse was still alive in Christ. 1 This decision characterized the saint’s outlook on life: to live life as preparation for death

Why the Great Commission still applies to married couples. Mission brought Alli and Tanner to the National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis, IN, in July 2024. (Photo provided) Leaving staff as a campus missionary with FOCUS was a difficult transition. I absolutely loved evangelizing students at the University of Colorado Boulder, and I didn’t want my zeal for souls to fizzle out. I was determined to continue living on mission, even if it would look different. My fiancée w

(Photo: Adobe Stock) By Micah Ellalasingham, MFT-C St. Raphael Counseling Communication Breakdown As a Marriage and Family Therapist, the most common concern couples bring into the therapy room is some variation of “We can’t communicate.” Spouses, feeling unheard, are seeking the “tools” to fix it. However, within the session, a deeper pattern usually emerges. When couples say, “We need to work on communication,” what they often mean is, “I want you to listen to me and fulfil

From diaconate formation to the wedding Mass, God was at work every step of the way. (Photo by Mo, emmkayyphotos.com By Jay Sorgi Katie and Victor Villa prove that God can turn small things, like a delivery of raffle tickets and a night at a taco bar, into something beautiful, even a sacramental union. Of course, it helps to have dads who are Denver-area deacons and who became close friends during their formation, which they began together in 2019. “Steve Boselli and the Bose

A confessor's perspective on love, dignity and the gift of self. (Photo: Lightstock) By Father Daniel Ciucci Pastor, Most Precious Blood Parish, Denver There are few better opportunities for a societal pulse check than the confessional. The Fifth Commandment, in particular, manifold in its application, covers everything from drunkenness, reckless driving, gossip and physical violence, to the withholding of forgiveness, the clutching onto bitterness and the like. Recently, how

(Photo provided) There are few words that a person will say in their lifetime that carry as much eternal weight as the two simple words couples say at the altar on their wedding day: "I do." In uttering these two words, a man and his wife are doing much more than merely promising to lay down their lives for one another — though, to be sure, they are doing that too. "I do" is a mutual assent that a man and his wife will give themselves completely and totally to one another in

National Marriage Week starts today, Feb. 7, and goes through Feb. 14, with the Church celebrating World Marriage Day on Feb. 11. What...