(For the ideal union in love of husband for wife and wife for husband, God’s examples are before you, Joseph and Mary. Your marriage is something to be appreciated ever more deeply. From time to time meditate on its precious character, as, for example, is suggested in the following prayer to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for husband and wife to say in their own behalf. We can summarize the spirit of Christian married life no better than in this prayer.)

O most Sacred Heart of Jesus,
King and center of all hearts,
dwell in our hearts and be our King;
grant us by Your grace to love each other truly and chastely,
even as You have loved Your spotless Bride, the Church,
and have given Yourself up for her.

Bestow upon us that mutual love
and Christian forbearance
which are so highly acceptable in Your sight,
and a mutual patience in bearing each other’s defects;
for we are certain that no living creature is free from them.

Do not permit even the slightest defect to mar that full and gentle harmony of spirit,
the foundation of the mutual assistance
in the many and varied hardships of life,
that is the end for which woman was created
and united inseparably to her husband.

** (See note below)

O Lord God, grant that between us there may reign a perpetual holy rivalry
toward a life perfectly Christian,
by virtue of which there may shine forth more and more clearly
the Divine image of Your mystic union with Your Holy Church,
as You have deigned to imprint it upon us
on the auspicious day of our being made one.

Grant, we beseech You,
that our good example of Christian living
may serve as a powerful inspiration to our children
to conform their own lives to Your holy law;
and finally, after this exile may we ascend into heaven,
where by the help of Your grace,
for which we earnestly pray,
we may merit to be joined with our children forever
and praise and bless You through everlasting ages.Amen.

(** If there are no children, the prayer from this point reads:

O Lord God, grant that between us there may reign a perpetual holy rivalry
toward a life perfectly Christian,
by virtue of which there may shine forth more and more clearly
the Divine image of Your mystic union with Your Holy Church,
as You have deigned to imprint it upon us
on the auspicious day of our being made one,
and so living, may both of us ascend into heaven,
and merit to praise You and bless You forever. Amen.)

[Source: Family for Families, The by Francis L. Filas, S.J.]