Blog
Practical wisdom, faith-filled insights, and real-world relationship advice for couples at every stage. Our blog offers practical tools and Catholic perspectives to help you love smarter. Explore topics including communication, fertility, forgiveness, spirituality, parenting, and more — authored by Francine & Byron Pirola and other guest contributers.
Lent: A Marriage Make-over Opportunity
Lent – the annual invitation to lean in closer to the Lord in our pursuit of holiness through fasting, prayer and almsgiving. This year, we’re looking to do…
Romance and Mystery
One of the things that makes a new romance so exciting and attractive is the element of uncertainty: Is this person really interested in…
Together with Purpose
The theme for Marriage Week prompts us to reflect – what is our purpose as a couple? Are we together merely by luck, or is…
Listening is the Music of Love
One of the most supremely loving gestures we can give another person is to truly listen to them. Yet for most of us, being genuinely…
Holy Spouses – Holy Family
The Church has long valued the spousal dimension of Mary and Joseph’s relationship. It encourages us to see marriage not just as a social institution for the…
Marriage: to be happy or to be holy?
“And they lived happily ever after”… it’s the ending of the fairy tale love story and has become the expected story line of most modern…
Habit Makers, Habit Breakers
Do your evenings ever disappear into the couch, your phone, and a half-watched Netflix show? We realised ours had—and something important was quietly missing. In…
Resolutions to Have and to Hold
It’s a new year, a new beginning. Among all the goal setting, consider what you can do to transform your marriage. Have you ever noticed…
Keeping Our Eyes On What Matters
The day after the biggest birthday in the world (i.e. Christmas), is the feast day of St Stephen. He also happens to be the confirmation…
Gratitude: Superfood for Relationships
We all seek happiness and are drawn to the things we believe will make us happy. But sometimes, the things we desire fail to deliver.…
Blessed be the (Relationally) Poor
Embracing the Call to Love in an age of relational poverty. Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te (Latin: I have loved you, Rev 3:9),…
Love in the Waiting
Advent is the season of waiting; we wait in anticipation of the coming of Christ. But are we the only ones doing the waiting?…
A Real-World Advent
Fasting from devices to make room in our hearts and homes Halfway through a supermarket dash last week, Francine’s watch alarm began buzzing…
Gratitude: Plant Now, Reap Later
As we look forward to the new year, lots of us are making resolutions, setting goals, planning for the coming months. Most of our colleagues…
The Honey-Do List Standoff
How do you get your husband to do the household jobs you really care about? How to do you get your wife to stop…