Father Gouder's talk included more points which I shall not cover, but here are some more highlights of this presentation.
Father noted that God loves each person dearly, but that God does not keep the married person for Himself Alone, but shares that person with the spouse. This is truly a beautiful ideal. Think of this-God sharing His Love through a spouse.
Father also noted the importance of the sacrament of confirmation before the sacrament of marriage, as the gifts of the Holy Spirit are part of the marriage vocation.
One of the points I really liked was that the love shared in the marriage is not the love of each individual person, but God's Love.
One of the most important points made by this good priest was that the couple in a marriage are consecrated to each other. He asked the audience to define consecration. When many good ideas were shared, Father said that consecration was the setting apart, the dedication of someone or something to be made holy.
He noted that a church is consecrated, an altar is consecrated; these are dedicated to God. Father went on to explain that each Catholic is consecrated to God in baptism and confirmed in that consecration in confirmation.
In marriage, each person is consecrated to one another in the sacrament. The sign of this consecration is fidelity, which mean that the couple live exclusively for one another.
As temples of the Holy Spirit, each person consecrated to each other act accordingly in grace. This is why marriage is between one man and one woman and for life. This consecration is holy and cannot be reversed. To act less would do serious harm to one's own soul.
Betrayal in marriage harms not only society and the other person, but one's self, because one has consecrated one's self in that relationship. The living vocation is holy.
By the way, there are courses at the Institute, by psychologist Joyce Callus (counselor) on Positive Discipline for parents of 0 to 6 year old children with future psychological and spiritual courses in the pipeline.
