This is my retreat, we're together

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Engaged Encounter is a weekend retreat for engaged couple planning and preparing for the sacrament of marriage. It gives couples the opportunity to have an open and honest dialogue about their future lives together, touching on subjects like ambitions, goals, strengths and weaknesses, and relationship with each other and with God.

Having been raised by religious parents and gone to Catholic high school, religion and faith have played very big parts in my life. When one of St. Barbara Parish's requirements for marriage was an Engaged Encounter weekend, I was very happy to be able to go on a retreat (which I use to attend yearly for school) and for the opportunity to grow in the relationship between me and the mister.

Well the mister has never been religious or gone on a real retreat. He's been a bit apprehensive about the entire weekend. But since it's a requirement and since he's respectful of my faith, he's going along and trying to keep an open mind.

I have never thought of retreats as solely religious events. They were more a chance to get away from the norm, experience solitude and serene calm, think about current and future plans, and concentrate on making yourself better. The prayer is like the sprinkles on top of an already yummy cupcake.

I found wemetinabar's posts on EE very helpful when I was trying to research topics covered in each EE. Values, children, finances, spirituality, expectations, arguments, backgrounds are just a few topics on the discussion block. We have discussed some of those subjects before, and some we've just skimmed through. Each subject is important, and to discuss this without any distractions will be a nice change :)

The best review from the EE weekend has been, "You may believe in/have two different ideals, but there is only one love." So true.

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Have you gone on an EE weekend or done another type of pre-marriage counseling?

Blog title is from song by Diana Ross