The True Vocation of Marriage: The Domestic Church Unveiled

"As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live." - Pope John Paul II

Catholic Marriage Defined: Christ and His Bride The Catholic Church, mirrored on earth by a man and his wife.

"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church, and delivered Himself up for Her." - Ephesians 5:25

"Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the Church, His body, of which He is the Savior." - Ephesians 5:22- 23

"Through Jesus, marriage is elevated to something more profound, divine, and mysterious. At the end of Ephesians 5, Paul confirms this: "This (marital love) is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and The Church." This "great mystery" of marital love is something sacramental." Marriage is the reflection of the love of Christ, and His Bride; The Church." - Venerable Fulton Sheen on Sacramental Marriage

Earthly marriage when lived properly is the foreshadowing of the divine marriage between God and the soul. A prelude to the wedding feast of The Lamb, the sacramental marriage leads and points to Heaven. "Great are the joys in marriage, as there is the lifting of progressive veils until one is brought into the blazing lights of the Presence of God." - Venerable Fulton Sheen "Three To Get Married" 

What has been lost among Catholics today, is the vocational aspect of marriage. It's common to view the vocation to the religious life; being a priest, being a nun, as holy, but to view marriage as the "default." This is largely because secular people "get married" and secular people do not become nuns or priests, as one has to be a faithful religious to make these vows. Due to this notion, the Catholic vocational aspect of marriage has been widely disregarded.

Example: A woman with the vocation of being a nun might say "I am called to be a Bride of Christ, and renounce the pleasures of the world for the sake of advancing the kingdom of God."

A woman with the vocation of marriage should say, "I am called to help build the domestic church and be a living reflection of the sacredness and beauty of the relationship between Christ and His Bride, The Church."

However, instead, we hear women with the vocation of marriage say something along the lines of: "My vocation is marriage, I want a husband and children"... and the thought ends there. Modern secularization of marriage has blurred in most, the vocational call of marriage; to build the domestic church and be a living reflection of Christ and His Bride, The Catholic Church. Modern women are at large deceived by feminism, and this deception has weakened she who is supposed to be a reflection of The Bride of Christ. Thus the vocational aspect of marriage has been watered down, and the notion of the domestic Church to most lukewarm Catholics has been made invisible. Modern men lack the strong leadership of being able to spiritually lead a woman, so well….you get the point. 

Here's a quote for ya, "All the evils of the world are due to lukewarm Catholics." - Saint Pope Pius V

I believe that the lack of relationship and understanding of Christ The Bridegroom among both women and men is an important reason for the lack of the spiritual understanding of marriage. Women and men must make the jump from simply desiring marriage to understanding marriage. Prayer should change from "Jesus, please send me a husband." To "Jesus, please send to me the man You wish to be an earthly reflection of You to me." For men, prayer should change from "Jesus, I want a good wife." To "Jesus, please send me the woman, you want me to be a reflection of You to." Proper understanding of Christ The Bridegroom and His Bride The Catholic Church, is instrumental in destroying the secularism of marriage that has infiltrated The Church today.

The lack of comprehension of Christ The Bridegroom, and His Bride, can be seen simply by observing modern women's disdain for Ephesians. (You know… the whole “submit yourself to your husband.”) They always seem to forget the "as you do unto The Lord" part. Modern women cannot comprehend the thought of submitting to their husbands, because they first do not submit unto The Lord. If you don't submit to God who created you, why would you submit to a mortal man? One who doesn't know the beauty of surrendering to The Lord will seldom find beauty in anything.

The loveliness of marriage for women is that the husband stands in for Christ. A truly beautiful marriage is one where you can see your relationship with Jesus come alive in the flesh. Saint Anthony of Padua has a beautiful prayer inspired by The Holy Spirit, for those desiring marriage, called "Be satisfied With Me." The last few lines of the prayer read, "And dear one, I want you to have this most wonderful love, I want you to see in the flesh a picture of your relationship with Me. And to enjoy materially and concretely the union of beauty.”

This "union of beauty" is what God intends for Catholics, who are called to marriage. God does not call us to mediocrity, but Sainthood. The higher union you have with God, the more perfect is your love. If a husband and wife reach the highest level of prayer, that is mystical marriage with God; they can love each other with the love of God, and thus find themselves living a sort of Heaven on Earth. This concept to most is foreign, because instead of striving to reach the heights of union with God; the comfort of lukewarmness keeps people at a neutral state; not receiving the fire of zeal given to those striving for Sainthood. Staying stagnant at level one of prayer, when God is beckoning you to level nine, harms every aspect of your life. Lukewarmness has no place in the vocation of marriage. 

“When a man loves a woman he has to become worthy of her. The higher her virtue, the more noble her character, the more devoted she is to truth, justice, goodness, the more a man has to aspire to be worthy of her. The history of civilization could actually be written in terms of the level of its women.”  - Venerable Fulton Sheen 

"If a man and a woman marry in order to be companions on the journey from earth to heaven, then their union will bring great joy to themselves and to others. Nothing can destroy love that is rooted and founded in Christ. The love of husband and wife is the force that welds society together." - Saint John Chrysostom

Christ and His Bride are holy. If marriage is a reflection of Christ and His Bride The Church, that could only mean one thing: Your home is supposed to be holy. Man provides the house, woman makes it a home, home makes the nation.

It’s all supposed to be holy.