The Spirituality of Married Life

Editors Note: John and Elaine Cogavin have been members of a Dublin team since 1986. They have accepted many responsibilities during that time, including serving on the International Leading Team (the ERI) from 2001 to 2007. John has written a book about married spirituality which has recently been published (see advert on inside back cover).

Michael Paul Gallagher S.J. (previously a Teams chaplain and well known Irish Jesuit writer) has written the forward to the book and in it he writes…..

‘The Spirituality of Married Life’ is written by John Cogavin but is truly the spiritual journey that he and Elaine have experienced as a couple on their marital journey. ………. This is not a book about problems in marriage, but it does not avoid them. It is not a do-it-yourself handbook on relationships, but it touches on how to safeguard the quality of a lifelong relationship. It is more a book about what one couple discovered over the years, a wisdom that they now want to pass on to others. In particular it is a book that reflects on the Christian meaning of marriage, more in practice than in theory. It gives attention to the long history of Christian marriage, with sections dealing with the Bible and the ways in which the sacrament has been understood in different periods. But probably its main focus, and perhaps its main gift to its readers, has to do with a liveable spirituality for couples today. How within modern life-styles, with the pressures of jobs, of growing children, of all the ups and downs that happen – how can couples manage to preserve what is at the core of their hopes? How can they nourish their own adventure of mutual love and their adventure of Christian faith? The two adventures of course are deeply linked. But, remembering always that there are no ideal marriages, how in daily reality can that double adventure be supported?

John’s book is available from contact@marriedspirituality.com or directly from John at cogavins@hotmail.com Price: £12 or €14. e-Book version available soon