Covenant of Love: Pastoral Reflections on Marriage
by "John Joseph OConnor"
Category: Religion

The purpose of this book, in the Cardinal's words, "is not simply to emphasize the importance of appropriate preparation for marriage, or to discuss the nature of such preparation-although I do attempt to do this. But I want to go deeper, most particularly by way of exploring the likeness of marriage and priesthood, together with the radical reason for marriage itself." And so this is not a marriage manual, nor a book of strict guidelines and instructions. Thoroughly pastoral, and practical, in tone, sprinkled with real-life anecdotes, this book will encourage both the married and the unmarried to look at the spiritual, the sacramental, and indeed, the supernatural, dimensions of marriage as God seems to have intended it to be. In more than two dozen chapter-reflections, O'Connor covers such themes as: self-sacrifice, indissolubility, prayer life, marital relations, channels of grace, the frustration-aggression phenomenon, money, divorce and remarriage, being loved for oneself, fidelity, and parenting.