The Vocation of Marriage Is A Couple's Response to God's Call

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(Editor’s note: This is the first in a series on the theology of marriage and the family in preparation for the 10th World Meeting of Families, which will take place June 24-26. The worldwide meeting will take place in Rome; Bishop Oscar A. Solis has asked parishes throughout the Diocese of Salt Lake City to host activities to increase awareness of the importance of the vocation of marriage and family life.)

SALT LAKE CITY — To Catholics, marriage is more than a relationship between two people who are legally recognized as spouses. The Church views the union of one man and one woman in marriage as the couple’s vocation, which is “The calling or destiny we have in this life and here after,” as the Catechism defines it.

The Church also teaches that marriage is a sacrament instituted by God. Catholics view conjugal love as merging the human with the divine. The man and woman freely consent to the marriage union, which is intended for the good of the spouses and the begetting and education of children.

“Marriage is a vocation, inasmuch as it is a response to a specific call to experience conjugal love as an imperfect sign of the love between Christ and the Church,” Pope Francis explains in his apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia. “Consequently, the decision to marry and to have a family ought to be the fruit of a process of vocational discernment.”

All Christians are called through baptism to new life in Christ, and the Church recognizes that the vocation of marriage is one way this call to holiness can be expressed.

“A vocation is a personal call,” states the website foryourmarriage.org, which is under the aegis of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. “It is offered freely and must be accepted freely. Attraction to a certain way of life or to a specific person can be a good sign of being called. Most often a person comes to recognize and accept a vocation gradually. This process, sometimes called discernment, is an opportunity for growth. It can be helped by prayer and guidance from trusted mentors, friends and family.”

Marriage and the family are of such importance to the Church that the Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes puts the matter at the top of the list of the section called “Some Problems of Special Urgency.” The list also includes life in its economic, social and political dimensions; the bonds between the family of nations; and peace.

“On each of these may there shine the radiant ideals proclaimed by Christ. By these ideals may Christians be led, and all mankind enlightened, as they search for answers to questions of such complexity,” Gaudium et Spes states, then adds, “The well-being of the individual person and of human and Christian society is intimately linked with the healthy condition of that community produced by marriage and family.”

In contrast to erotic love, “conjugal love involves the good of the whole person, and therefore can enrich the expressions of body and mind with a unique dignity, ennobling these expressions as special ingredients and signs of the friendship distinctive of marriage,” Gaudium et Spes continues.

The Church considers human marriage a reflection of “the mystery of that unity and fruitful love which exists between Christ and His Church,” states Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church.

Because the family is “the domestic church … parents should, by their word and example, be the first preachers of the faith to their children; they should encourage them in the vocation which is proper to each of them, fostering with special care vocation to a sacred state,” Lumen Gentium states.

In his “Letter to Married Couples for the ‘Amoris Laetitia Family’ Year,” published last December, Pope Francis encourages married couples to be active in the Church, and to walk side by side with other families and help those who are weaker.

Quoting Amoris Laetitia, the Holy Father writes in the letter that “Shared responsibility for [the Church’s] mission demands that married couples and ordained ministers, especially bishops, cooperate in a fruitful manner in the care and custody of the domestic Churches.”

In closing the letter, he adds, “Live out your vocation with enthusiasm. Never allow your faces to grow sad or gloomy; your husband or wife needs your smile. Your children need your looks of encouragement. Your priests and other families need your presence and your joy: the joy that comes from the Lord!”

Reflection Questions 

1. How does the concept of marriage as a sacrament and as a vocation challenge the secular culture’s idea of marriage?

2. How did you come to your vocation of marriage?

3. What actions and words do you use to help your marriage reflect the union of Christ and the Church?

4. How can you, as a married couple, fulfill your call to “walk side by side with other families?”

5. Did/do your parents consider their marriage a vocation? How does their attitude toward marriage affect your own?