Wedding – Starting a family – Getting married – Wedding – Initiation ritual for husbands
Initiation Ritual for Husbands - Wedding - Marriage
Welcome to the initiation ritual for husbands. One is many, many are one. The path of the family is both a dialectical synthesis and harmonization of values. It is a higher and greater value beyond self and others. Here is the truth of the family: When faced with opposites, the path of family and marriage does not lead to conflict and separation, but rather a greater value emerges from the two opposites of man and woman.
The dance of marriage & family begins with the song between husband and wife!
Husband - Getting Married
What does it mean to marry and enter into matrimony? Marriage is a sacred bond; you become one. You sacrifice your ignorance and voluntary blindness for the sake of a long-term goal. Marriage is based on a deep, earned respect between the spouses, whereby both strive for an equal partnership. The union forms a harmonious blend of different strengths and weaknesses. For the couple, marriage means creating a framework for mutual development and promoting psychological and spiritual growth under all circumstances.
Man - Head of the Family
As the head of the family, the man has the duty to assume responsibility and defend his wife and family. Men have the responsibility to protect their wives and children from physical and, above all, spiritual dangers. Men often overlook this responsibility and, in doing so, endanger not only their own lives but also those of their wives and their families. Therefore, it is important that men learn to protect their wives and recognize dangers early on. Dangers lurk everywhere today (see "Deathly Mother and Feminism").
The holier the marriage and family, the holier the people
There the seeds are sown that will later sprout and become the blessing or curse of a people. There unbridled desire is guided into the divinely ordained path, a test of love and fidelity until death. This love and fidelity must be as great as Christ loves the Church and never abandons her.
May God grant our people good fathers and mothers, and through them holy, faithful, and valiant families! They are the guarantee of a better future and the strongest bastion of our people's spiritual health.
The Young Man Prays for His Bride - Marriage
Gracious God! By your providence, I may call a girl my dear bride. You have thus given me a great decision for my entire life. I come to you now and ask for your fatherly counsel. Let me gain clarity and confidence before the great step I will take in the holy sacrament of marriage.
Show me what you want from me as a man and a father. Show me what I should become to my future wife and the mother of my children. Let me give my bride a pure heart, an uncorrupted and, to my core, good heart. Just as I honor and love her purity, so may she be able to honor and respect me, so that our wedding and our two may be better and holier, and not spoil what you have given us to protect and love.
So bless our thoughts and wishes, our longings and love. Bless every day of our bridal season so that we may approach the altar with a clear conscience and with good confidence to enter into the covenant of life before you. You, the Father of all people, be our Father especially, as we wish to take on fatherhood and motherhood.
Holy Mother of God! To you especially I commend my dear bride! Virgin and Mother, be her protector and loving counselor. Pray for her, so that as my wife and mother of my children she may bear her heavy burden well and become a shining example to the family and a holy priestess.
Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her to sanctify her. Consider your wives as your other selves, which they are, since you have become one in marriage. Treat them with indulgence and care, guide them with gentleness.
Share your affairs with them in friendly confidence, which will also become theirs in this union. Thus, accustom them to domestic chores and enable them to raise their children seriously and wisely in the fear of God.
Spouses, too, should esteem one another highly because they are children of God, and they will be able to do so the more they love one another in the fullest sense as children of God; the more they remember that they both have the same Father in heaven, the same Savior who redeemed them both with his precious blood, and the same divine Spirit who has taken up residence in them.
Wedding Night - Yes, I Do!
Marriage and family are a holy sacrament. This will restore the value of sexuality and intimacy. Bless the fidelity, bless the sorrows, bless the path that fathers and mothers take together! It can often be difficult for parents to muster the courage to have a child. Let them say a courageous "yes"! Don't let their goodwill falter, don't let their joy in sacrifice cool, and send them the happiness of domestic peace. Do you want your wedding to be truly unforgettable? How about abstinence until the wedding night?
Prayer for the Expectant Mother - Marriage & Family
You mighty, holy, and just God! You have bestowed countless blessings from your gracious hand upon your chosen people, our fathers and ancestors. You have made the dear Mother of God, in body and soul, a worthy dwelling place for your Son. Even in the womb, you filled Saint John with the Holy Spirit.
A mother humbly prays for the life and prosperity of her child. Accept the sacrifices she makes for its sake. You have entrusted this child to her womb. Guard what is yours and protect it from all the cunning and wickedness of the Evil One.
Give this mother your merciful help so that the young life may happily see the light of day and be preserved for the gracious rebirth of baptism. May it serve you in all things and attain eternal life. Amen.
Initiation Ritual for Husbands - Through Death to Life!
Seven days count as one! To commemorate the enlightenment of the saints and sages, the initiation ritual, the Mountain Week, takes place twice a year (January & August). During this week, we will not lie down and will devote all activities to meditation. The ritual marks an important stage in life, allowing one to consciously enter into the new responsibility with change.