Being married

Marriage is a vocation, a calling from God. It is meant to build up the spouses into the saints they are called to be, and it changes who the man and woman are in the core of their being. It is also meant to be life-giving, the source of new children and a new family which serves as a foundation for society.

Catholic teaching is clear that men and women are equal. At the same time, they express two different ways of being human. The man and woman work together in marriage to express this complementarity and to love their spouse for the child of God that they are.

Marriage expresses the universal call to holiness that all people share. They are called to give of themselves, to put their spouse first, and to bring their husband or wife closer to Christ over the course of their lives. As they learn to do this, they also grow in their own relationship to Christ. When a husband or wife views their marriage as a vocation, it shifts the focus off of themselves (“Is marriage making ME happy?”, Is she being a good wife to ME?”, “Will marrying this person make ME happy?” etc.) and onto the person they have vowed to give themselves to.