Discerning Marriage as Natural Vocation - Homiletic & Pastoral Review - 64 views
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The word “vocation”has its roots in the Latin word vocare, which means “to call”. A vocation is a calling. The Second Vatican Council clearly stated that we all have a call to holiness. But within that universal call to holiness, there are two main “states of life”—marriage and celibacy for the kingdom. (The main call to celibacy can be further divided into priesthood and consecrated or religious life.) We rightfully say that both states of life are vocations since both calls ultimately find their origin and their end in God
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Yes, every priest and nun, even the Pope, is called to marriage, insofar as they are human beings. Theologically, this can best be understood in what Blessed John Paul II called the “spousal meaning of the body.” This means that the ensouled body, the person, is meant for the gift of self, particularly in marriage. Marriage is something to which every human person is called; it is the “default” vocation for all humans. So marriage, at its most basic level, is a natural vocation, a call written into our very DNA, into the very structure of our being. The married person is called to give himself totally to one person in love, while the celibate is called to give himself to all.
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This understanding, that marriage is a vocation written into our human nature, helps us to comprehend how it differs from celibacy as a vocation. Unlike the call to marriage, which is internal, the call to celibacy is external; it comes from outside of our nature. The vocation to celibacy has a purely supernatural basis since it invites us to renounce the natural vocation to marriage for the sake of the kingdom. In addition, Scripture is clear that celibacy must be received and lived as a supernatural grace (cf. Mt 19:11-12). Without this gift, one cannot properly live the vocation of celibacy for the kingdom.
