Conjugal Spirituality

“This means Christianising the whole of family life. First of all, it means seeking the Christian meaning in all family realities, asking oneself the question, “Deep down, what is God’s thinking on love, on fatherhood and motherhood, sexuality, education, on all the great realities facing couples?” And then not only discovering it, but also wanting to put God’s idea into practice in all these areas.”

Henri Caffarel, L’Anneau d’Or, no. 84

Conjugal Spirituality according to Father Henri Caffarel

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A Spirituality born out of the Married State

It is built upon the married state of couples—with its demands, its difficulties, and its graces. It invites spouses to live their conjugal union and their Love of Christ as one single love. How does Christ lead them? Through their own love—their human love—the love that He gradually sanctifies through His presence. The sacrament of marriage is the strong and effective sign of this grace that overcomes obstacles.

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A Christian Way of living for Couples

“Spirituality is the science that deals with the Christian life and the paths that lead to its full flourishing. Now, integral Christian life is not only adoration, praise, asceticism, effort in the interior life. It is also service of God, in the place assigned by him: family, profession, City… Thus, the households that come together to be initiated into spirituality, far from seeking ways to escape the world, strive to learn how, following Christ’s example, to serve God, throughout their whole life and in the midst of the world.”

Henri Caffarel, Monthly Letter of the Équipes Notre-Dame, June 1950

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The Evangelical Ideal: following Christ without Compromise

“The evangelical ideal is not, solely and above all, a body of doctrine to adopt, but Someone to follow. To follow, that is, to learn to think, to act, to live with Him and like Him. And this Someone is not a man of half-measures, nor of compromises. He is the man of a single love, and he asks no less of his disciples: ‘No one,’ he says, ‘can serve two masters’ (Mt 8:24). He knows how to be patient, ‘not to quench the smouldering wick’ (Mt 12:20), but he does not compromise on the ideal. He takes what is given to him, but he asks for everything: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind’ (Lk 10:27). He claims not a part but the whole: the total gift of intelligence, of the heart, of the will, of life.”

Henri Caffarel, Monthly Letter of the Équipes Notre-Dame, November 1962

To go further

Come and follow me

The Gospel ideal is not—solely and above all—a body of doctrine to be adopted, but Someone to be followed. To follow means learning to think, to act, and to live with Him and like Him.