The Mission of Marriage

Most people think that if you feel called to work for the salvation of others you should be a priest or nun. But the Catechism teaches that Matrimony, like Holy Orders, is a sacrament with a mission, a mission that is directed toward the salvation of others. Matrimony is a mission to build up the kingdom of God by having kids and teaching them to be virtuous, to be excellent human persons and aspire to be saints. 

The CCC 1601 says: The Sacrament of Matrimony is “The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring;

Jesus gave only one mission to every Christian: “Go and make disciples of all nations.” Every Christian is supposed to be a disciple maker.

The Church’s mission, then is to extend the Kingdom of God through space and time. Great missionaries like St. Paul and St. Francis Xavier had the particular vocation of extending God’s Kingdom through space – indeed to the four corners of the world. Catholic husbands and wives, on the other hand, have the challenging vocation of extending the reign of God through time, by raising up the next generation of Christians and saints.