Discerning a vocation The idea of ‘discerning a vocation’ to married life may seem rather odd. After all, people just fall in love and get married, don’t they? Surely for the Christian ‘having a vocation’ must mean something rather more special - religious life, the work of a missionary, ordained ministry... ? It can all too easily seem that getting married is what you do if you don’t have a sense of call from God - a kind of default vocation.
‘the two will become one flesh’ Eph 5:31 Marriage Vocation-Leaflet.indd 1
‘May they share with one another the gifts of your love’ (Nuptial Blessing) This leaflet reflects the Church’s belief that married life is a particular vocation and a specific way of holiness. In describing something of the Christian vision of marriage, it aims to help you – as an individual and couple - discern whether this way of discipleship is something you may be called to. The desire for a partner with whom to share companionship and sexual intimacy, a home and a family, is a profound part of being human, inscribed on men and women by their very creation in God’s image. Through all the changes that marriage has undergone over the centuries,
it continues to be a sign of God’s love shining in the world. Christian marriage is both deeply human and witnesses to ‘the things that are above’ (Col. 3:1), a vision that challenges many current ideas.
Christian marriage A Christian marriage is one where this gift of creation is taken up into the redeeming work of Jesus. It is a special kind of love based on a lifelong, exclusive relationship between a man and a woman. A couple shares the joys and hardships of life together, offering them all to God the Father through their faith in Christ. Christian marriage shares the universal experience of human relationships but makes that experience into a sacrament, a sign of Christ’s grace.
The mission of marriage The Sacrament of Marriage is an essential part of Christ’s mission because it is lived not only in the world but for the world. We know that men and women fall in love, may live together, and have children together; they may or may not go through a form of public ceremony. For the couple embarking on Christian marriage, however, there is a specific call: that they become people who live their marital, bodily and spiritual love at the service of others. Like ordained ministry, the Catechism tells us, the sacrament of marriage is only a way of holiness for those who receive it, in so far as they put that love and grace at the service of others. Christian marriage is not just for the couple themselves. [CCC 1534]
The domestic church Most obviously the call to married life is a call to a sacramental service of family life in ‘the domestic church’. [CCC 1656]. Married relationship is uniquely expressed through sexual relationship, which is, itself, orientated to new life. But the married person’s call to service is not only to be found in the ‘nuclear family’. The Catechism describes marriage as ‘an office of the Church’. [1631] Christian marriage sets the husband and the wife free to serve Christ in the world, supporting them through their mutual love and practical sharing of day to day living. For those called to marriage, the confidence of faithful, life-long love, through all the ups and downs of years, is a source of strength and grace. This enables them to become more deeply who they are called to be, and so take up their own, specific role in God’s loving mission for the world.
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