Book Offers Prayers for Spouses
LONDON, SEPT. 4, 2009 (Zenit.org).- A new prayer book published by the London-based Catholic Truth Society is encouraging married couples to incorporate prayer into every moment of their lives, even before acts of marital love.

The "Prayer Book for Spouses," published at the end of August, is composed of prayers and meditations to "offer couples a ready, thorough and reliable support to the daily challenges and joys of married life," the society's Web site explained.

Using excerpts from Scripture, Catholic teaching and the Marriage Rite, it "encourages the loving and spiritual dimension essential to the life of Christian spouses."

In offers prayers during pregnancy, while caring for aged parents, and even a "Prayer Before Making Love."

In this particular prayer, married couples ask God, "Place within us love that truly gives, tenderness that truly unites, self-offering that tells the truth and does not deceive, forgiveness that truly receives, loving physical union that welcomes."

The prayer continues, "Open our hearts to you, to each other and to the goodness of your will."