A little over fifty years ago, Pope Paul VI wrote a document that forever changed the world entitled Humanae Vitae. It may be one of the most controversial documents ever written to date, but it is also one of the most prophetic.This document stated that the Catholic Church, in a time when hormonal birth control was growing in popularity, would stand firm on our teaching that it simply was not acceptable. The Catholic Church stood alone.

Alarms went off in my head.  My mind shifted gears rapidly, snapping out of my thoughts and paying attention to what I was hearing.  Tara and I were in the living room while my oldest daughter and oldest son—5 years apart in age—were in the kitchen.  I could hear them but couldn’t see them (we actually want to remove that wall…).

My ears heard the unmistakable sounds of a fight starting.

The stars had aligned and the five of us sat down to play a game together.  It was a new one from Christmas, we were all sloths racing around a track, and the last one across the finish line won!  It was a cute premise and we laughed along for ten minutes.  Unfortunately, the game hadn’t ended.

Christmas Day is right around the corner.  For many of us, it’ll be quieter and smaller than normal, but the beauty of the Church’s feasts is that they’re fundamentally the same in gatherings of one or one hundred and in America, China, or anywhere you may find yourself.

I came around the corner from the hallway into the kitchen and was presented with the sight of my eleven-year-old daughter going to-and-fro with pots of water boiling, cooking materials everywhere, and headphones on her ears.  My wife had taken our youngest son to yet another therapy session (being a Special Needs Mom is tough), the other kids were nowhere to be seen, and I had just come off a long day of work.

A few weeks ago, we discussed marriage as a partnership like you’d find in an adventure movie.  Today, we need to look at partnership from a slightly different angle.

Yes, our differences can cause conflict or complementarity.  They can push us apart or join us together.  The reality, though, is this only works when both partners do three, specific things very consistently.

If you Google “what to do when marriage is boring”, you’re going to find a whole bunch of websites that suggest some sort of activity to overcome the boredom.  They suggest new experiences, changing routine, rearranging the furniture, or visiting an attraction neither of you has seen before.  The list goes on and on.