Amazing Catechists

Teaching and learning the faith together

Printable Worksheets on Family Community Service #freebie #4KEYS

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This week’s marriage prep/enrichment topic is how to best serve our communities together as a family. We can be a great blessing to others both in our neighborhoods and far away. It’s easier than you think! Read Chapter 6 of The Four Keys to Everlasting Love: How Your Catholic Marriage Can Bring You Joy for a Lifetime, and join in the discussion with the 4 Keys Online Book Club on Facebook. FOR A PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION OF THE WORKSHEET, CLICK HERE.

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Chapter 6

Turning Inaction into Action:
Families at the Service of Other Families

Jesus wants us to feel a special love for the poorest and most vulnerable among us. That’s one reason why programs for the Sacrament of Confirmation stress community service so heavily. But community service doesn’t have to be relegated to the teenage years. Families can reach out to meet their neighbors’ physical and spiritual needs in ways that amount to priceless gifts.

Inviting a lonely neighbor and her small children over for a playdate or offering to pick up an extra gallon of milk at the store can mean so much more than we realize. Our community and our parish are both filled with opportunities to show God’s love to a hurting world by donating either our resources or our time. And of course who can forget Pope Francis’ constant urging to “go to the outskirts” and seek out people who need our help. As Manny and Karee say in Chapter Six of The Four Keys, “We all have a deep-seated need, placed within us by God, to leave the world better off than when we found it. Through acts of charity, we accomplish that goal one person at a time.”

In Chapter Six, Manny and Karee talk about every family’s call to serve others by words, deeds, and love in order to become what Pope St. John Paul II called families at the service of other families. They also show you how:

  • Your children can bring joy to others
  • Your faith and hope can be a gift for others
  • Hospitality begins within the walls of your home
  • Your parish needs you more than you know
  • Face to face interaction amplifies our acts of charity by dignifying those we serve

Conversation Starters

You can use the following conversation starters to get a discussion going among yourselves or in a small group. If it helps, think it over on your own time, take it to prayer, and jot down your answers before talking about them.

1. How often do you practice the virtue of hospitality by inviting people into your home?

2. What cause motivates you the most and how would you like to get involved?

3. Is there a cause that motivates you both equally? If not, how might you divide your free time and resources to support more than one cause?

4. What are some service projects you might take up as a family to meet the physical and spiritual needs of your neighbors?

Marriage Memes: Marital Finances

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This week’s gorgeous graphics to download and share contain the wisdom of the Church on the crucial issue of finances. Many couples struggle to manage their finances, and many more couples outright fight over it. With God’s help, we can be smart planners while realizing that everything we have is a great gift of his goodness to be shared with the ones we love.

Quotes are drawn from Chapter 5 of The Four Keys to Everlasting Love: How Your Catholic Marriage Can Bring You Joy for  a Lifetime. Feel free to use them in your ministry. And please join the online discussion tomorrow on Facebook.

Meme #1: Catechism

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Meme #2: Scripture

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Meme #3: Quote from Four Keys

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Meme #4: Pope Quote

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Meme #5: Action Plan

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Printable Worksheets on Marital Finances #freebie #4KEYS

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This week’s marriage prep/enrichment topic is marital finances. Avoid the trap of “my money” vs. “your money” by realizing that everything we have comes from God who loves us and knows how to meet our needs. Read Chapter 5 of The Four Keys to Everlasting Love: How Your Catholic Marriage Can Bring You Joy for a Lifetime, and join in the discussion with the 4 Keys Online Book Club on Facebook. FOR A PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION OF THE WORKSHEET, CLICK HERE.

Chapter 5

Turning Ownership into Stewardship:
Six Tips for Trouble-Free, God-Centered Finances

Marital finances are a hot-button issue for many couples. But frequently couples are fighting over who’s in control and who gets to make the decisions as much as they’re fighting over the money itself. It helps for them to commit fully to the idea that what’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine. It helps even more for them to realize that everything that is theirs has been given to them by a God who loves them.

We are not so much owners as we are stewards, caretakers of God’s blessings. As Manny and Karee say in Chapter Five of The Four Keys, “An attitude of stewardship can set us free. Good stewardship recognizes that everything we have comes from God, even the talents and opportunities that enable us to earn a living. God gives us these things so we can use them for his glory, not just accomplish our own personal goals.”

In Chapter Five, Manny and Karee use Scriptural quotes and stories to detail six tips for trouble-free, God-centered marital finances:

  • Talk to each other
  • Establish joint financial priorities
  • Plan wisely
  • Save for your family’s future
  • Tithe (or donate a fixed percentage of your income)
  • Pay your taxes (yes, really!)

Conversation Starters

You can use the following conversation starters to get a discussion going among yourselves or in a small group. If it helps, think it over on your own time, take it to prayer, and jot down your answers before talking about them.

1. Do you and your spouse have different spending and saving patterns? How different are they?

 

2. Are you comfortable discussing finances with each other, or does it sometimes cause conflict? Which financial issues have the most potential for conflict?

 

3. How important do you think donating to charity is? Which charities do you (or would you like to) support?

 

4. How often do you pray about any financial worries you might have?

Marriage Memes: Work/Life Balance

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This week’s Marriage Memes help us see work as a blessing rather than a burden. Jesus himself worked at a carpenter’s bench in the little town of Nazareth, and while he worked he served and saved the world. We too can find enough time for God, family, and the work we are called to do either inside or outside the home. It’s all a matter of organizing our priorities.

Quotes are drawn from Chapter 4 of The Four Keys to Everlasting Love: How Your Catholic Marriage Can Bring You Joy for  a Lifetime. Feel free to download and share. And please join the online discussion tomorrow on Facebook.

Meme #1: Catechism

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Meme #2: Scripture4-keys-scripture-ch-4-meme

 

Meme #3: Quote from Four Keys

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Meme #4: Pope Quote

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Meme #5: Action Plan

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Printable Worksheets on Work-Life Balance #freebie #4KEYS

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This week’s marriage enrichment topic is work-life balance. How do we get the best home life while still succeeding at work? And how do we find time for God? Read Chapter 4 of The Four Keys to Everlasting Love: How Your Catholic Marriage Can Bring You Joy for a Lifetime, and join in the discussion with the 4 Keys Online Book Club on Facebook. FOR A PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION OF THE WORKSHEET, CLICK HERE.

Chapter 4

Turning Meaningless Drudgery into Meaningful Work:
How to Prioritize God, Family, and Work

Whether you work at home or in an office, nobody wants to feel like a gerbil on a wheel. Work is meant to be more than that, and deep inside we all know it. Even in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve worked. Our Blessed Mother Mary worked in the kitchen, and her husband Joseph and son Jesus worked at the carpenter’s bench. Work has always been a way that we humans find fulfillment and purpose in life, a way that we can make a visible difference in the world around us.

A lot of effort can be poured into finding a “dream” job or career, and that’s certainly a worthy goal. But sometimes we’re called to bloom where we’re planted and to recognize that all work has value in the eyes of God.  As Manny and Karee say in Chapter Four of The Four Keys, “The value of our work can be measured by the love and care we put into it. Even the smallest, most mundane task can be a kind of offering to God. Just look up from your work and think silently, ‘My Lord, this is for you.’” Realizing the supernatural worth of our work will help us to prioritize correctly: first, God; then, family; and last, work.

In Chapter Four, Manny and Karee show how hard work can enhance our reputation and self-esteem and how God’s will always has a place in our career decisions. They describe a uniquely Catholic work ethic and explore the special challenges women face in crafting a work-life balance. In addition, Chapter Four will help you to:

  • See work as a blessing, not a burden
  • Make family-friendly career choices
  • Fairly distribute chores at home
  • Work for a higher purpose with God as your ultimate “boss”

Conversation Starters

You can use the following conversation starters to get a discussion going among yourselves or in a small group. If it helps, think it over on your own time, take it to prayer, and jot down your answers before talking about them.

1. What priority does work have in your life?

 

2. What led you to choose your particular work or career?

 

3. Do you struggle to balance home life and work life? What strategies have or haven’t helped you find that balance?

 

4. How did your parents balance home life and work life? Will that model work for you?

 

Marriage Memes: Loving Your In-Laws

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This week’s marriage memes focus on loving your in-laws a little bit better. This can be still be an issue for couples 20 years after their wedding day! Quotes are drawn from Scripture, the Catechism, and John Paul II.

We talk about them all in depth in Chapter 3 of my Catholic marriage book The Four Keys to Everlasting Love, plus some fun stories you may not know about in-laws from the Old Testament. Please join tomorrow’s discussion on Facebook!

Meme #1: Catechism

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Meme#2: Scripture

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Meme #3: Quote from Four Keys

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Meme #4: Pope Quote

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Meme #5: Action Plan

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Printable Worksheets on Loving Your In-Laws #freebie #4KEYS

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It’s time to talk about in-laws! This is number three in the worksheet series for our Catholic marriage book, The Four Keys to Everlasting Love. Since chapters are organized by topic, you can join the discussion at any time, even if you’re late to the party. So please feel free to participate in the 4 Keys Online Book Club on Facebook, where we discuss the book every Saturday. TO DOWNLOAD AND PRINT THIS WORKSHEET, CLICK HERE.

Chapter 3 Worksheet

Turning Union into Communion:

Extending Your Love to Your In-Laws and Beyond

Marriage is more than the union of just two people. It’s also a union of two families. A married couple needs to craft a delicate balance between two Biblical priorities. First, they are called to leave their father and mother and cleave to their spouse, as it says in the Book of Genesis. Second, they still have the duty to honor and respect their parents, according to the Ten Commandments.

Many couples struggle with learning to love their in-laws. It helps to remember that in most cases what the in-laws really want is for your marriage to be successful, long-lasting, and happy. By loving our in-laws and extended family members, we follow Jesus’ command to love our neighbors as ourselves.

The more differences there are between the two families of origin, the more difficult it can be. As Manny and Karee say in Chapter Three of The Four Keys, “The two of us have extended families that include Sevillanos, Madrilenos, Colombians, French-Moroccans, Poles, Argentineans, Egyptians, and Virginians. Our family members’ religious affiliations range the gamut from Catholicism to Episcopalianism, Judaism, Coptic Orthodox, and former Muslim.”  When we join our families in a new community of life and love, we fulfill Jesus’ desire that all the peoples of the earth may be one.

In Chapter Three, Manny and Karee show how marriages have a powerful ability to draw relatives closer together and how respectful communication techniques that work for the two of you also work with in-laws. They recount fascinating and amusing stories about relationships with in-laws from the Bible’s Old Testament. Chapter Three also teaches you how to:

  • Draw appropriate boundaries between yourselves and your in-laws
  • Respectfully listen to your in-laws ‘advice, even if you don’t ultimately follow it
  • Negotiate trouble spots like wedding planning, gift exchanges, and hosting the holidays

Conversation Starters

You can use the following conversation starters to get a discussion going among yourselves or in a small group. If it helps, think it over on your own time, take it to prayer, and jot down your answers before talking about them.

1. How would you describe your process for deciding how much involvement your in-laws have in your married life?

 

 

2. Can you remember a time when the two of you reached an impasse on this issue? How did you resolve it?

 

 

3. How do you handle holidays? Do you see room for improvement?

 

 

4. What do you believe is your responsibility toward both sets of your parents as they become elderly?

 

 

Marriage Memes: Sacraments and Saints

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Following up on the free Marriage Memes from last week, here’s another scintillating series to download and share! This week’s memes focus on how married couples can seek help from the sacraments and the saints. They’re drawn from Chapter 2 of my Catholic marriage advice book The Four Keys to Everlasting Love.

Meme #1: Catechism

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Meme #2: Scripture

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Meme #3: Quote from Four Keys

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Meme #4: Pope Quote

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Meme #5: Action Plan

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Printable Personality Differences Worksheet #freebie #4KEYS

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This printable personality differences worksheet is one of the most popular in the series from my Catholic marriage advice book The Four Keys to Everlasting Love. Please feel free to download, print, and share it widely. FOR THE PRINTABLE VERSION, CLICK HERE.

The worksheets are ideal for marriage prep or marriage enrichment, either in small groups or break-out sessions. They can also be used at home, of course, or together with the 4 Keys Online Book Club, which is covering Chapter One this week.

Chapter 1 Worksheet

Turning Two into One:

How to Overcome the Differences that Divide You

Whether you’re newly engaged or long married, congratulations on embarking on the experience of a lifetime! Marriage is quite an adventure, and somehow never exactly what we expect. Our God, after all, is a God of surprises, as Pope Francis is fond of saying.

The first bump in the road that many couples encounter is overcoming personality differences. Opposites really do attract, and that adds to the excitement but can also create conflict. Manny and Karee were very different, as they explain in Chapter One of The Four Keys. When they met, Manny was a “first-generation Spanish American, longtime New Yorker, Catholic, Republican, extrovert, and optimist.” In contrast, Karee was “a Virginian born and bred Episcopalian, Southern Democrat, and introvert with a slight tendency toward gloom.” They overcame their differences through respectful debate and reliance on God who loved them both equally.

In Chapter One, Manny and Karee describe their courtship, the early years of their marriage, and their dramatic struggle through Manny’s four brain surgeries to remove recurring tumors. Along the way, they will show you how to:

  •       Appreciate your personality differences
  •       Find common cultural and religious ground
  •       View disagreements as opportunities for growth
  •       Stand by each other in troubled times
  •       Overcome fear through faith

Conversation Starters

You can use the following conversation starters to get a discussion going among yourselves or in a small group. If it helps, think it over on your own time, take it to prayer, and jot down your answers before talking about them.

  1.       What personality, cultural, or religious differences do the two of you have? How have you handled them so far?
  1.       How often do you discuss important and difficult topics? How often do you apologize if what you say hurts or angers the other person?
  1.       Think of the biggest crisis that has hit your relationship. What character strengths or weaknesses were revealed in each of you?
  1.       Which friends and family members can you rely on to support your marriage?

Faith on Facebook: 4 Keys Online Book Club

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This Saturday, September 10, more than 170 Facebook members will dive into an online discussion of The Four Keys to Everlasting Love: How Your Catholic Marriage Can Bring You Joy for  a Lifetime. The group will discuss the book chapter-by-chapter each Saturday and share prayer intentions on Sunday. They’ll also receive daily inspirational memes based on Scripture, the Catechism, and recent popes, especially Pope St. John Paul II.

The book itself is intended mainly for engaged and married couples. But it’s especially helpful for mentor couples teaching pre-Cana for a refresher of what the Church teaches on a dozen marriage-related topics including, sacramentality, sexuality, and family prayer.  Click here to join the online book club now or read on for more details from Michele Faehnle, co-author of Divine Mercy for Moms, who is the group’s administrator.

This past summer, more than 130 Catholic moms enjoyed spiritual fellowship on Facebook in the online book club for Divine Mercy for Moms. The group was such a terrific success that we decided to extend the fun. So I’m teaming with up with co-admins Amanda Torres and Aida Alaniz to delve into The Four Keys to Everlasting Love: How Your Catholic Marriage Can Bring You Joy for a Lifetime by CatholicMom marriage advice columnists Dr. Manny & Karee Santos. The discussions will begin on September 10 and end on December 3. We would love for you to jump on this opportunity to make your marriage and your faith stronger than ever!


The Four Keys to Everlasting Love is practical, easy to read, and full of personal stories to help you develop a stronger relationship with your spouse. As it says in the book’s description on Amazon: “No marriage — even a sacramental one — is free from conflicts about sex, money, child-rearing, in-laws, and work/life balance. Marriage columnist Karee Santos and her husband, Manuel, a psychiatrist who has been counseling couples for more than fifteen years, explore how applying the wisdom of the Catholic faith to marriage can free us to experience deep, lasting, and soul-satisfying love.”

Read on for more.