“The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they come from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution despite the many variations it may have undergone through the centuries in different cultures, social structures, and spiritual attitudes.” (CCC 1603)
From the very beginning, we see that man and woman are inextricably linked. Man was given a helper because God saw that it was “not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18) and so he was given a wife. Man is called to be joined in marriage to woman, though some remain celibate and single dependant on their vocation. For the majority however, they are called to married life.
The sacrament of marriage is not just that one day when the bride and groom take their vows. The sacrament of marriage encompasses the way that the married couple live out their life together.
The sacrament begins during the wedding and it is administered by the couple themselves. The priest is therefore, not the principal celebrant of this sacrament, the man and woman who marry are. Why is this the case? A baptised man and woman give the sacrament of marriage to each other when they freely consent to marry. It is through the gift of self to each other that God appears.
Marriage is not an easy vocation. It involves a loving and faithful commitment to another person, despite their imperfections, loving them the way that Christ loves them. This love requires a number of virtues including faithfulness, forgiveness and a commitment to growth. Marriage is a call to holiness where through selfless love, support of spouse and a community of prayer both husband and wife help the other to grow in spirit and truth. Because the very nature of marriage is that of love the “institution of marriage and married love is ordered to the procreation and education of the offspring and it is in them that it finds its crowning glory.” (CCC 1652)
Therefore the husband and wife must be open to having children and are obliged to raise and form their children in the Catholic faith. Their home then, becomes a ‘domestic church’. The married vocation is a call to love and to serve others, as are all vocations, but more specifically an inseparable union with another imperfect person that is open to the procreation of life.
Originally posted 2014-12-15 22:14:32.