One Flesh: “I Get to Love You”, A Weekend of Renewal for Christian Marriages

Marriage is beautiful, but it is also a spiritual battleground. Every couple discovers, at some point, that loving one another the way Christ calls us to love can feel harder than expected. This retreat offers couples a chance to step away from the noise, reconnect with God, and rediscover each other within the peace of the desert.

Throughout the weekend, you and your spouse will explore what it truly means to be One Flesh:

• Embrace God’s design as man and woman
• Heal what has quietly wounded your unity
• Rediscover intimacy, purpose, and the grace to say, “I get to love you”

Whether you’ve been married six months or sixty years, this retreat will meet you exactly where you are. Couples who are thriving will be strengthened. Couples who feel distant or discouraged will find hope. And those who simply want to grow will leave with renewed purpose and grace.

What To Expect

• A welcoming, peaceful Benedictine environment (desert, monastic, prayer)
• Honest, relatable talks rooted in Scripture, real-life experience, and the complementarity of man and woman
• Time for reflection, prayer, silence, and conversation as a couple
• Opportunities for healing and renewed connection
• Practical tools to help you love one another with greater freedom and joy
• A special surprise on the last day

This is not a conference, a counseling session, or a series of lectures.
It is a spiritual experience designed to help you: see clearly, love deeply, forgive freely, and live your Christian mission as one.

Presenters: DEACON CHARLIE & JESS ECHEVERRY

JESS ECHEVERRY is a Catholic speaker, writer, Catholic Social Teaching and family advocate whose work centers on healing, dignity, and hope. Through her ministries and her nonprofit leadership, she shares her powerful testimony from trauma, poverty, and loss to restoration in Christ and accompanies individuals and families toward deeper wholeness. Jessica speaks nationally on homelessness, motherhood, marriage, forgiveness, and the transforming mercy of God, inviting others to discover the freedom that comes from a life fully surrendered to Him. (www.mommaletics.com)

DEACON CHARLIE  ECHEVERRY is an ordained deacon of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, a media executive, and founder of the creative agency Black//Brown. Through preaching, writing, consulting, and digital evangelization, he helps individuals and organizations bring the Gospel into the heart of culture. His work emphasizes authentic masculinity, mission, and the joyful witness of Catholic family life. He is passionate about strengthening marriages, forming leaders, and drawing people back to the person of Jesus Christ. (www.deaconcharlie.com)

Together, Jessica and Deacon Charlie speak and minister as a couple, offering a candid, authentic and hope-filled witness of God’s healing power in sacramental marriage. Drawing from lived experience, pastoral ministry, and years of walking with couples, they help spouses rediscover true identity, unity, intimacy, and the grace of becoming one flesh in Christ.

*If the event is listed as sold out, please call us at 661-944-2178 for real-time availability and a waiting list.

Image from John August Swanson.