The Annunciation!

Mar. 25, 2021 - Ahhhh ... the Feast of the Annunciation!  The moment when God entered into the human struggle and inserted His very Self into our history, what LOVE God has for us!  "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

The Annunciation was the moment God not only entered into human history, but into the FAMILY! And He entered as a FETUS! The most insignificant of human persons, and yet what dignity His presence as a fetus gives to every human person who passes through this phase!

St. John Paul II said, "Marriage, as a fruitful, life-giving communion of two people, as a base of a family, is always in a certain way a sacrament - that is - something marked by God, the Creator and Life-Giver." (Reflections on Marriage, 1957)

That is, the family in being at source of life (with the openness to new life within their loving marriage) reflects the life-giving Divine Communion of Persons! God as Father-Son-Spirit is reflected in Father-Mother-Child ... and as such, the family is vitally important! In fact, St. John Paul II said:

"The future of humanity passes by way of the family." (Familiaris Consortio, 86)

The beauty of the Annunciation is that it is the beginning of the Incarnation: God became flesh, and dwelt among us. But we must remember:

"The Incarnation did not take place as a form of accusation of humanity but rather its justification, or as a way to pull it out of the original devaluation and weakness that humans defer to so often. We must not only take advantage of the light that rises from this mystery but also of the power that it contains, and which never runs out.” (Reflections on Marriage, 1957)

The Rule of St. John Paul II for Married Couple Groups, allows us to unlock the ability to "level up" spiritually in our marriage and in our family!

The main purpose of the Rule (found in point #4) is to develop a spirituality so that the whole of marriage may be infused with Christ's giving Himself up in love for His bride.

And this "conjugal spirituality" can grow to be so unifying that the spouses have but ONE interior life!!  Woah.

This is accomplished through the GRACE of the Sacrament of Marriage - infusing God's life into every aspect of our own life!

Did you know?

In the documents that accompany The Rule, St. John Paul II emphasized that Sacraments give us a NEW Life in Christ through Grace!

Knowing our temptations and the frailty of our nature, though, Jesus left us with sacraments to transform us into new persons and give us the power to be able to strive for holiness.

“The sacrament, as a powerful sign of grace, creates in nature the forces that are supernatural” to give us the potential for holiness.(Reflections on Marriage)

As St. Paul says in his second letter to the Corinthians: “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; everything old has past away; see, everything has become new!” (2Cor 5:17).

Jesus is not just another teacher of morality, but He is the Truth and through Him, through the action of His life in us, ie. through grace, our conversion is not merely an agreement to follow a new set of guidelines, but a complete transformation of all that one is into a new creation.

St. John Paul II explains that through the sacraments, grace “sanctifies by infusing the nature of the soul and its faculties with elements of God’s life.”(Reflections on Marriage)

God gives us His life, via the supernatural forces of grace, to transform us and aid us on our journey towards Christian perfection. However, as he explained, One must direct his heart to receive the gift of grace in order for his life to grow closer to God.
(cf. Reflections on Marriage)

As we walk in the ‘orbit of grace’ (as St. John Paul II described it), our lives are transformed; it is a radical shift of one’s entire life. Death to the old self and born into a new life, a supernatural life, in Christ. How well we reflect the image of God in us depends on our openness to the action of God’s life in our lives.

Every truth we learn in the Christian faith (e.g. Humanae Vitae) must be understood through this scope of the relationship one has with God, and not merely a catalogue of morally good actions to follow nor pursuit of understanding merely for the sake of intellectual argumentation.

We must open ourselves to His grace, His life in us, so that He might transform us into the image of His Son. Our faith is, first and last and always, an encounter with our Lord and our God.

Be not afraid!

We continue to move forward in our initiative and ask for your PRAYERS as we apply for a grant which will enable us to finally LAUNCH NATIONWIDE!

If you can give anything, even $5, $10, $25 or $50, will make a world of difference for the ability to take The Rule of St. John Paul II for married couple groups and spread it WORLD WIDE!

We are praying for you!  Please pray for us!

God bless you,

the WCI Leadership Team