Posts by Francine & Byron Pirola
Prayer for Catholic Engaged Couples
Congratulations on your engagement! This is an important formation period and we encourage you to pray regularly, preferably daily, for your upcoming wedding and the commitment you will make. Here are two prayers you could use, or you can write your own!
Read MoreSpiritual intimacy shouldn’t be taboo
Religious practice and spiritual belief is often a point of difference for couples, especially if they come from different religious traditions. But having religious differences should never be a reason for avoiding a topic or making it taboo. Even for couples of the same faith like us, differences persist and make sharing our spiritual life…
Read MoreWhen history repeats, choose freedom
We remember sitting with a young couple who were locked in combat. She was prone to reactive outbursts and he was mystified as to what he was doing to trigger it. As we probed her on her family of origin the penny dropped; she was repeating a relationship pattern that she had established with her…
Read MoreHow to Forgive More Easily
We remember those long nights in the first year of our marriage. In the infancy of his career, Byron was often late home from work as he juggled the demands on his time. Initially, Francine was so grateful when he finally arrived that she didn’t register the hurt that his lateness caused. Over time and…
Read MoreThe Power of Ritual
Some years ago, we attended a Smart Marriages conference in the United States. One of the most memorable inputs was from Dr Bill Doherty, a family therapist and author. Over dinner, he engaged the audience in telling stories about their relationship rituals, before unpacking how rituals work to strengthen marriages. It confirmed for us some…
Read MoreUndoing the Knots is Easier than you Think
September 28 marks the feast of Mary Undoer of Knots. The devotion is over 300 years old and is based on a Baroque painting by an unknown artist located in Germany. The painting features angels feeding a knotted rope to Mary who unties the knots one by one. It was inspired by an ancient homily…
Read MoreUnconditional Love is a Contradiction of Terms
A Story Over the last few months, we have had several conversations with a woman who is struggling with a difficult situation. Her best friend is having an affair and is planning a new life without telling her existing boyfriend with whom she has lived for almost seven years. Not only is this woman distressed…
Read MoreChange Starts Here
Part 4 of It Takes One to Tango. See others in this series here, here. and here. All change in our relationships should start with ourselves. While it’s comforting to be able to blame our spouse for the inadequacies of our marriage, expecting them to change to meet our demands is not only ineffective, it’s not…
Read MoreMaking Stumble-Stone Altars
There will be mistakes. We will make errors and we will mess up in this marriage business. Obstacles and challenges will be part of every romance. The critical issue is how we respond to these inevitable stumbles. We attended a beautiful wedding recently in country NSW and came away inspired by the depths of faith…
Read MoreWhy Reality TV Makes Us Stupider
These days we rightly talk a lot about exploitation and abuse. It comes in many forms and we worry we might walk past it without noticing. Recently 665,000 Australians not only walked past but sat and watched something that we should recognise for what it really is – workplace exploitation abuse. The airing of ‘reality’…
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