The Fruit of a Well-Ordered Marriage

If we order our affairs in this way, there will never be divorce, suspicion of adultery, grounds for jealousy, fighting, or strife. Instead we will enjoy great peace and great harmony, and where these are present all the other virtues will surely follow. For just as, when a wife is at odds with her husband, nothing in the household will be sound even if all other affairs run smoothly, so when husband and wife live in harmony and peace, nothing will be unpleasant even if ten thousand storms arise every day.

If marriages are formed in this way, we will also be able to lead our children toward virtue with great ease. For when the mother is orderly and chaste and possesses every virtue, she will certainly be able to win her husband and bring him under her sway through his love for her. And once she has won him, she will have him eagerly helping in the care of the children, and in this way she will also draw God toward the same care. When He takes hold with them of this good ordering and trains the souls of the children, nothing unpleasant will remain. The affairs of the household will also be well ordered because those who govern it are so disposed.

In this way each man will be able, together with his household—I mean his wife, children, and servants—to pass through this present life with complete security and to enter the kingdom of heaven. May all of us attain it by the grace and loving kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ, with whom be glory and power to the Father, together with the holy and life-giving Spirit, now and always and to the ages of ages. Amen.