The psalmist praises the Lord for being “slow to anger and abounding in kindness.” Pope Francis encouraged engaged couples to adopt a similar attitude when he recently told thousands of couples that the recipe for success lies in three simple words: “please, thanks, and sorry.”

Francis told fiancés gathered in St. Peter's Square on Valentine’s Day for a special papal meeting that expressions of courtesy, gratitude, and contrition go a long way toward conserving and enhancing love over time.

"Never finish the day without making peace!" he counseled. "Because if you end the day without making peace, what you have inside becomes hard and cold and it becomes harder to make peace the following day."

Francis has on several occasions met with young couples to give them advice before embarking on marriage. The need for such church counseling, both before and after the wedding, is a theme he's expected to elaborate on at a major Vatican meeting on the family in October.

Francis has often lamented how many marriages end in divorce and has blamed such failed relationships on today's prevailing "provisional culture" that makes people unwilling to make lifelong commitments.

Originally the audience was due to be held inside a Vatican auditorium, but the response from soon-to-wed couples to Francis' invitation for a Valentine's Day date was so great—Vatican officials said 25,000 people from 30 countries showed up—that the event was held in the piazza on a perfect, sunny afternoon after weeks of rain.

Homily hint: Loving marriages are hard enough under the best of circumstances, but ever more so today. Encourage couples you know who may be struggling to do all they can to work through differences, keeping in mind Francis' advice.

Source: An article by Nicole Winfield for the Associated Press